GREENSBORO, N.C. – North Carolina Central University brought the tying run to the plate in the top of the ninth, but North Carolina A&T once again was able to hold off the Eagles for a 5-2 win to take the weekend sweep on Saturday, April 15 at War Memorial Stadium.
NC A&T (20-14, 10-5 MEAC) got on the board first as Kyle Clary (Lakewood, Calif.) continued his strong weekend with a two-run home run in the bottom of the second to put the Aggies up 2-0.
NCCU (16-21, 7-8 MEAC) was held scoreless all the way until the sixth inning, when the Eagles finally broke through. Dominc Cuevas (Gurnee, Ill.) led off with a double before getting to third on a throwing error on a pickoff, and
Evan Holland (Erial, N.J.) drove him in on a sacrifice fly to cut the lead to 2-1.
The Aggies immediately pulled that run back as Myles Sowell (Greensboro, N.C.) hit a leadoff homer to left to put NC A&T back in front by two, 3-1 in the bottom of the sixth. The game then turned into a power contest for a short time as
Conrad Kovalcik (Detroit, Mich.) fired a liner over the short porch in right field to make the game 3-2 in the top of the seventh
NC A&T was able to pull that run back once again in the following inning, as A.J. Hunt (Chesapeake, Va.) hit an RBI single through the left side in the bottom of the seventh to give the Aggies a two-run cushion once again at 4-2.
Clary capped off his powerful weekend by hitting his second home run of the game in the bottom of the eighth to move the Aggies ahead 5-2. Clary went 2-for-3 with two home runs, three RBI and a walk.
NCCU led off the top of the ninth with back-to-back singles from
Jake Raby (Granite Fals, N.C.) and
Zach Michalski (Belews Creek, N.C.) but a double play and a strikeout gave NC A&T the win and Noah Dyals (Tampa, Fla.) his fifth save of the season.
Raby finished the game with a 4-for-4 mark, with two doubles for the Eagles.
NCCU returns to the Durham Athletic Park on Tuesday, April 18 to take on Campbell before heading to the Durham Bulls Athletic Park to visit Duke on Wednesday, April 19.