University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Friday, April 8
Asheville, N.C.
5 p.m.
UNC Asheville
5
vs
6
North Carolina A&T
Bulldogs rally but ultimately fall to North Carolina A&T in 11 innings
04.08.2022 | Baseball
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The UNC Asheville baseball team rallied from a 5-2 deficit in the ninth inning to force extra innings but ultimately fell by a score of 6-5 to North Carolina A&T in Big South action Friday evening at Greenwood Field.
Robbie Burnett led the way for the Bulldogs at the plate on Friday, posting a 3-for-6 day with a double and a run scored. The rest of Asheville's seven hits were all singles coming from Ty Kaufman, Dominic Freeberger, Dylan Bacot, and Cam Johnson.
The Bulldogs were able to score the game's first runs on Friday. Asheville took advantage of three A&T errors to score a pair of runs. Asheville's starter Zeus Ponder logged three shutout innings to begin the contest but ran into some trouble in the fourth. Four straight singles and a sacrifice bunt chased Ponder from the game with the score tied 2-2 with runners still at second and third base.
Cole Schiff came in to relieve Ponder. A&T executed a successful squeeze play that resulted in its first lead of the game, 3-2. Following a strikeout, Schiff had a throwing error on a pickoff attempt to score the other runner. Schiff, however, kept the score there, heading into the bottom of the fourth.
A&T would add another run in the fifth off Schiff to make the score 5-2. Schiff did get the game into the sixth inning allowing one run on two hits in 1.2 innings of work. After Schiff, the Bulldogs got back-to-back stellar outings from a pair of seniors. First, Chris Banks pitched two perfect innings and threw only 12 pitches to get six outs. JP Perez followed and pitched 2.2 scoreless frames.
Thanks to the zeros put on the board by Banks and Perez, the Bulldogs were in a position to make a rally in the late innings. In the ninth inning, that rally finally took shape. Kaufman got things started with a 1-out single, and Burnett doubled to move Kaufman up to third, and then Bacot worked a walk to load the bases.
An Aggie pitching change followed and walked Michael Groves to make the score 5-3. Johnson followed came through with a clutch two-run single to score Burnett and pinch-runner Kevin Catrine to tie the score, 5-5, and force extra innings.
Both teams threatened to score in the 10th inning, but both sides were unsuccessful in finding that go-ahead hit. The difference came in the 11th. The leadoff man, Cort Maynard, was hit by a pitch, and a sacrifice bunt moved him up to second, and then a fly advanced him to third. A Bulldog wild pitch scored Maynard to put the Aggies back on top, 6-5.
A&T reliever Xavier Meacham, who came in the ninth inning, closed out the win with a one, two, three 11th inning to give his team its first Big South win of the season.
Asheville will look to even the series on Saturday when the same two teams clash at Greenwood Field. The first pitch for that contest is set for 3 p.m. on ESPN+.
Robbie Burnett led the way for the Bulldogs at the plate on Friday, posting a 3-for-6 day with a double and a run scored. The rest of Asheville's seven hits were all singles coming from Ty Kaufman, Dominic Freeberger, Dylan Bacot, and Cam Johnson.
The Bulldogs were able to score the game's first runs on Friday. Asheville took advantage of three A&T errors to score a pair of runs. Asheville's starter Zeus Ponder logged three shutout innings to begin the contest but ran into some trouble in the fourth. Four straight singles and a sacrifice bunt chased Ponder from the game with the score tied 2-2 with runners still at second and third base.
Cole Schiff came in to relieve Ponder. A&T executed a successful squeeze play that resulted in its first lead of the game, 3-2. Following a strikeout, Schiff had a throwing error on a pickoff attempt to score the other runner. Schiff, however, kept the score there, heading into the bottom of the fourth.
A&T would add another run in the fifth off Schiff to make the score 5-2. Schiff did get the game into the sixth inning allowing one run on two hits in 1.2 innings of work. After Schiff, the Bulldogs got back-to-back stellar outings from a pair of seniors. First, Chris Banks pitched two perfect innings and threw only 12 pitches to get six outs. JP Perez followed and pitched 2.2 scoreless frames.
Thanks to the zeros put on the board by Banks and Perez, the Bulldogs were in a position to make a rally in the late innings. In the ninth inning, that rally finally took shape. Kaufman got things started with a 1-out single, and Burnett doubled to move Kaufman up to third, and then Bacot worked a walk to load the bases.
An Aggie pitching change followed and walked Michael Groves to make the score 5-3. Johnson followed came through with a clutch two-run single to score Burnett and pinch-runner Kevin Catrine to tie the score, 5-5, and force extra innings.
Both teams threatened to score in the 10th inning, but both sides were unsuccessful in finding that go-ahead hit. The difference came in the 11th. The leadoff man, Cort Maynard, was hit by a pitch, and a sacrifice bunt moved him up to second, and then a fly advanced him to third. A Bulldog wild pitch scored Maynard to put the Aggies back on top, 6-5.
A&T reliever Xavier Meacham, who came in the ninth inning, closed out the win with a one, two, three 11th inning to give his team its first Big South win of the season.
Asheville will look to even the series on Saturday when the same two teams clash at Greenwood Field. The first pitch for that contest is set for 3 p.m. on ESPN+.
Players Mentioned
INF
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C/U
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INF
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RHP
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LHP
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