April 27, 2012
Box Score
GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Wildcats earned the win over the North Carolina A&T Aggies on ESPNU, Friday afternoon at War Memorial Stadium, pushing past an early Aggie lead, and later tie, with three straight scoring innings on a solid situational hitting approach and aggressive base running in the 7-5 win.
Scoring in the first frame, B-CU lit up the board with an RBI single by David Lee up the middle, but the Aggies responded in kind and more, taking advantage of back-to-back singles, and capped off with a sacrifice fly to take the early 2-1 lead.
B-CU gained the upper hand in the fourth, as Jake Welch's RBI single to left field set off a three-run frame for the Wildcats. Brandon Turner and Lee added a pair of RBI singles to go up by two.
Like the first series, NCAT remained tight with B-CU, playing a scoring the scoring game like a dog chasing a cat. The Aggies responded with a two-run set to tie the game in the bottom of the fourth, scoring two unearned runs on an error play.
Over the next two frames, B-CU pushed out on top, scoring on a Jairo Acevedo double down the left line in the fifth, while Josh Johnson scored on an error play in the sixth, all while holding A&T without a hit through the two innings.
Each team allowed just one more run, as the Aggies cut the deficit to one in the eighth on Dairio Little's theft of home plate, but the 'Cats responded in the top of the ninth as Juan Pizarro's sacrifice fly brought Brashad Johnson home to take a 7-5 lead; upheld by Jordan Dailey's eighth save of the year, allowing no hits with one strikeout.
B-CU and MEAC leader, Rayan Gonzalez (7-0) pitched five innings for the win, remaining perfect on the year with three strikeouts. In the sixth, he gave way to middle reliever Acevedo, who also struck out three, giving just two hits before handing off to Dailey for the close.
Acevedo opened the game at third base and made some noise at the plate, batting 2-5 with an RBI. Lee also went two of five, collecting a pair of RBI himself, while Nick Johnson was steady at the plate, hitting 2-3.
B-CU also hit the base path heavy, collecting seven steals as a team against the Aggies.
The Wildcats (25-18, 14-4 MEAC) continue the series with North Carolina A&T (13-28, 7-9 MEAC) as scheduled, despite the change for the telecast. The doubleheader will begin on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. at War Memorial Stadium.
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