Eagles Hold Off Florida A&M to Advance to Final

NORFOLK VA – The North Carolina Central Eagles baseball program thwarted a late charge by Florida A&M and came away with a 5-3 win to advance to the final round of the 2021 MEAC Baseball Championship on Friday, May 21 at Marty Miller Field.

NCCU (27-19) jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first three innings and started the scoring in the first frame. Cort Maynard (Charlotte, N.C.) hit a triple in the bottom of the first and was brought in by Tristan Shea (Charlotte, N.C.) to put the Eagles ahead, 1-0. NCCU then scored three in the bottom of the third on a sacrifice fly from Shea and a two-RBI triple by Jacob Raby (Granite Falls, N.C.). 

FAMU (22-34) pulled a run back in the top of the fourth on an RBI single by Joseph Pierini (Crawfordville, Fla.), but the scoring would quiet down for a bit after that.

Shawn Runey (Daniel Island, S.C.) was handed the ball for the Eagles in this contest, and he answered the bell by delivering seven innings with five strikeouts without allowing an earned run, and NCCU was able to give him all the run support he needed to earn his fourth win of the year.

The Eagles gained some breathing room on a sacrifice fly by Kokko Figueiredo (Fortuna, Calif.) in the bottom of the seventh to move ahead, 5-1, but the Rattlers refused to go quietly.

FAMU loaded the bases without recording an out in the top of the ninth and scored a pair to trim the lead down to two at 5-3. Caleb McRoy (Raleigh, N.C.) was brought in from the bullpen, and he struck out three to earn his second save of the year and send the Eagles into the championship round.

The Eagles will face Norfolk State once again on Saturday, May 22 at noon, and the game will be broadcast live on the NCCU Sports Network and FloBaseball.