Box score

GREENSBORO, NC—After trailing 6-2 and 8-4, North Carolina A&T rallied for a 13-9 win over visiting NJIT Sunday afternoon, completing a sweep of the three-game weekend baseball series over the Highlanders.

 

The good news for NJIT (0-3) was that after being shut out in both ends of Saturday's season-opening doubleheader for the Highlanders, they broke out for nine runs, including six in the first three innings.

 

The bad news was that the NJIT pitchers couldn't keep a lid on North Carolina A&T (4-4), which went ahead for good, 10-6, with a four-run bottom of the sixth inning and then added two runs in the seventh and one in the eighth.

 

NJIT, which had eight hits, including four doubles, was paced by junior C Bryan Bleakley's 3-for-4, which included a double. Bleakley, batting cleanup, scored three runs. The other Highlander with multiple hits was 3B Jeff Peterson, who was 2-for-4, including a double.

 

Peterson knocked in two runs, as did DJ Roche, who had a double in four at-bats. Freshman 1B Tyler Kapp had the fourth NJIT double and he scored twice while also driving in a run.

 

The Aggies, who rapped out 18 hits, including four doubles, two triples, and a home run, had seven men with multiple-hit games, led by junior 2B Carvell Copeland, the leadoff man, and sophomore 3B Mark Nales, each of whom collected three hits.

 

Among the five A&T players with two hits each, sophomore 1B Kelvin Freeman and junior RF Xavier Macklin each drove in three runs. Freeman hit the game's only home run, a one-out, three-run shot that keyed the home team's four-run sixth inning.

 

NJIT used three pitchers and the second, talented freshman RHP Joe Fasano, was tagged with the loss in his first college appearance, after allowing five runs in 1.1 innings. Starter Austin McAuliffe, the sophomore LHP, allowed six runs in 4.2 innings and Roche, who began the game in left field, finished up by allowing two runs in two innings.

 

North Carolina A&T used five pitchers and the starter, sophomore LHP Brent Moore (1-1), was credited with the win. Moore went 6.1 innings and allowed eight runs (five earned), while striking out five and walking one. Four relievers combined to hold NJIT to one hit, one run and two walks over the final 2.2 innings.

 

The Highlanders jumped to a 6-0 lead, with four runs in the top of the second and two more in the third. Roche hit a two-run double and Peterson had an RBI double in the second inning and NJIT added two unearned runs in the third.

 

The Aggies got two runs back in the bottom of the third and two more in the fourth to close the gap to 6-4. But the Highlanders twice in the top of the fifth on an RBI double by Kapp and a run-scoring single for DH John Bouck.

 

However, the 8-4 lead was the high-water mark for the Highlanders, who were outscored, 9-1, the rest of the way.

 

A&T got two runs in the bottom of the fifth and then four in the sixth, highlighted by Freeman's three-run blast to left field. Nales also drove in a run with a single.

 

Ahead 10-8 through six, the Aggies added two runs in the seventh for a 12-8 lead. NJIT scored a run on Peterson's single in the top of the eighth, but the winners matched it with a run of their own in the bottom of the frame.

 

NJIT's home opener is scheduled for Friday at 3 pm, when it is set to host North Jersey rival Fairleigh Dickinson at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium.