North Carolina A&T took advantage of the opportunities presented to it on Sunday.
The Aggies used six Maryland Eastern Shore errors and three Xavier Macklin hits to down the Hawks 5-2 at Hawks Stadium.
A&T took all three games in the series to improve to 9-3 in the MEAC. The Aggies are 15-21 overall.
Macklin added two RBIs to his totals and senior Nick Rogers chipped in with two hits.
The Hawks were shutout twice on Saturday. But they were able to get on the board first on Sunday.
Luis Mena’s RBI single to left field in the second inning scored Bryan Chaikowsky to give the Hawks a 1-0 advantage.
UMES’ defense would struggle from there. Macklin opened the fourth by reaching on an error.
Riley furthered the Hawks’ problems with a single that advanced Macklin to third. The fielding error that allowed freshman Alex Grubb to reach helped Macklin score to tie the game.
Senior Lester Rivenbark’s sacrifice fly to center scored Riley to give A&T the lead.
Aggies starter Brent Moore was able to pitch out of some tough situations until his offense put the game away for him. In the fifth, the Hawks left a runner stranded at third against Moore.
In the sixth, Moore had a runner on first and second with one out and left the inning without surrendering a run.
He got some help in the seventh. The Hawks allowed freshman Dario Little to reach on an error with two outs. Rogers kept the two-out rally going with a single. Macklin made it all worth it with a triple to right field to score Little and Rogers.
A throwing error on the play allowed Macklin to score for a 5-1 Aggies lead.
UMES moved to within three with a run in the eighth.
The Aggies turned to Garrett Braun to close the game after Moore walked the lead-off batter in the ninth. Braun got Elliott Alston to fly out, and Phil Vaughn to hit into a double play to end the game.
Moore (3-3) earned the win, and holds a 3-1 record against MEAC foes with a 4.85 ERA.
The Aggies return to action on Tuesday to play on the road against High Point University at 7 p.m.Â
- Staff Reports