GREENSBORO, N.C. – The North Carolina Central University baseball program had to rally to win the first game of the doubleheader, and hung tough late to win the second as the Eagles took both ends of a doubleheader against North Carolina A&T, 6-2 and 6-4, on Saturday, March 20 at War Memorial Stadium.
GAME ONE: NCAT (5-13, 0-2 MEAC) took advantage of an error to take a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, and held the lead through the first four innings. NCCU (10-6, 2-0 MEAC) leveled the game in the top of the fifth on a sacrifice fly from
Kokko Figueiredo (Fortuna, Calif.) and then took the lead in the top of the sixth with a four-run frame that was bolstered by a three-run blast by
Patrick Doran (Evergreen Park, Ill.) to give the Eagles a 5-1 lead.
NCAT pulled back one run in the bottom of the sixth, but NCCU regained its insurance run on an RBI double by
Cameron Norgren (Cary, N.C.) in the top of the seventh to move the score to 6-2.
Austin Vernon (Raleigh, N.C.) turned in another double-digit strikeout performance as he fanned 11 batters in six innings of work with just two hits and one earned run, and recorded his first win of the year.
GAME TWO: Both teams were held in check in the first three innings of the contest, but the Eagles broke it open in the top of the fourth by batting around to score five runs. NCCU sent 11 men to the plate in that inning and recorded four hits, and also benefitted from a pair of defensive errors. Doran ripped his second extra-base hit of the day with a double during the big inning, and finished with three hits and three RBI during the afternoon. Figueiredo drove in a run on an RBI single in the top of the fifth to move the Eagles ahead, 6-0, and he also had a three-hit afternoon with a trio of runs batted in.
NCAT started to mount a late charge from that point on, and brought in three runs in the bottom of the fifth to halve the deficit with help from an RBI single by Camden Williamson (Greensboro, N.C.). The Aggies brought in one more on an RBI single by Justin Williams (Charlotte, N.C.) in the bottom of the seventh to move the score to 6-4, but
Scott Meylan (Pittsburg, Calif.) was able to shut the door for his league-leading fifth save of the year.
The series will conclude with another doubleheader on Sunday, March 21 at War Memorial Stadium in Greensboro, North Carolina, and it will begin at 2:00 p.m.