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MCINTYRES HEROICS LEAD AGGIES
TO DOUBLEHEADER SWEEP
GREENSBORO, – Joe McIntyre hit a grand slam, threw two runners out at the plate and hit a walk-off double all in a day’s work for the junior out of Fuquay Varina, N.C. His work led the North Carolina A&T baseball team to 13-3 and 4-3 wins on Saturday in MEAC doubleheader action from War Memorial Stadium on Saturday afternoon. McIntyre went a combined 5-for-10 on the afternoon with seven RBI and three runs scored.
He put University of Maryland-Eastern Shore baseball coach William Gardner in a no-win situation in the second game. With the game tied and a runner on first in the Aggies last at-bat before potential extra innings, Gardner saw preseason National Player of the Year candidate Charlie Gamble come to the plate. Gamble has an 18-game hitting streak going. So do you pitch to him or the man behind him? Behind him in the batting order was McIntyre.
Gardner chose to walk Gamble and pitch to McIntyre. McIntyre made sure it was a no-win situation for the Hawks by bouncing a Tyler Winch pitch off center field wall for the walk-off double. The Aggies won their fourth straight to improve to 13-21 overall and 6-5 in the MEAC. The Hawks fell to 7-28 overall and 4-6 in the conference. McIntyre had two hits in the second game and Nelson Santos went 2-for-2 with a home run.
UMES took an early 1-0 lead in the second game. Eric Gaines opened the game by reaching second on a throwing error. It set up Joel Gonzalez’s RBI double to left field off of Aggies starter Tim Johnson. Kevin Hillenburg would give the Hawks a 2-0 lead as his groundball went through a huge hole on the right side there because of a shift that had Santos playing up the middle. Hillenburg’s single scored Josh Dean from third.
The Aggies tied the game in their half of the third as Hawks starter Mike Roberts walked Gamble with two outs in the inning. McIntyre made him pay even further for the free pass by singling to center field. Roberts then tossed a wild pitch to the plate putting the runners on third and second for Patrick Oates, who torched a single through the left side to tie the game at 2.
Tyler Love stepped to the plate in the fourth with designs on regaining the lead for the Hawks. He doubled to center field with one out after C.J. Beatty’s diving effort came up short. Johnson struck out Eric Gaines for the second out of the inning, but Dean followed with a single to left to score Love for a 3-2 UMES lead.
It was a lead that didn’t last long. Santos led off the fourth with his fourth home run of the season as the ball escaped War Memorial Stadium over the left field wall. Johnson kept things in control until two outs into the sixth inning. He gave up back-to-back singles to Gaines and Dean. Aggies coach Keith Shumate turned to Ron Phelps who has been outstanding out of the bullpen lately.
Phelps continued to pitch well on Saturday. He ended the threat by striking out Gonzalez. Phelps ran into trouble in the seventh (The second game of a conference doubleheader is always scheduled for seven innings). He struck out the first two Hawks, but hit Kenny Richardson with a pitch. What appeared to be the end of the game wasn’t as Nick Mayo’s throw to second to force out Richardson went wide right, allowing the game to continue.
Winch followed with a single to right field that looked as if it would give the Hawks the lead. But McIntyre, a player who has 15 career appearances on the mound for the Aggies, picked the ball up off of one bounce and fired a strike to Neil Rosser at home plate to nail Richardson going home.
The assist set up McIntyre’s heroics in the seventh. Phelps (1-3) earned the win. In his last four relief appearances, he has not given up an earned run, giving up just three hits and has a save and a win in that same span. Winch lost the game.
In the first game, McIntyre slammed a grand slam over the right-field wall to give the Aggies a 5-3 lead in the fifth. Chris Eggers (3-6) was the winning pitcher as he went seven innings, gave up three earned runs and struck out three. Dustin Longchamps was the loser. The two teams are scheduled to play again Sunday at 1 p.m., from War Memorial Stadium.
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