By: Steve DeMillio
gwu-today.com Reporter

Before Gardner-Webb defeated North Carolina A&T 10-7, former Speaker of the House and 2012 presidential candidate Newt Gingrich threw out the ceremonial first pitch. Gingrich showed decent form with a pitch that made it over the plate, but may have been a little too low to be called a strike.

In a game that saw eight different pitchers give up a combined total of twenty-one hits, Gingrich might have seen some action on the mound had he stayed the whole game.

Both teams plated four runs in the third inning to chase both starting pitchers from the game and push the score to 5-5. The bats stayed quiet until the sixth inning when Gardner-Webb’s junior third baseman Brad Collins blasted a Shane Carter fastball over the wall in left field to give the Runnin-Bulldogs a 6-5 lead.

Gardner-Webb seemed poised to bust the game open when they got a double from redshirt senior Zeke Blanton followed by two two-out walks to load the bases. Carter was able to get out of the jam though and the Runnin’ Bulldogs stranded all three base runners.

Collins struck again in the seventh when he belted a triple off the fence in right field that drove in a run. Blanton drove in Collins when he connected for his second double of the afternoon. Freshmen Scott Johnson capped off the rally when his sacrifice fly drove in senior right-fielder Adam McFarland to push the Gardner-Webb’s lead to 9-5.

The Aggies loaded the bases in the top of the eighth on a leadoff walk and a pair of one-out singles. The Aggies were able to push one run across on a fielder’s choice. Freshman shortstop Ryan Hodge snuffed out the Aggies’ rally with a diving stop on a grounder that would have been two runs for A&T.

Hodge turned around in the bottom half of the inning and led off with a single. He was able to add an insurance run to make the score 10-6 when he scored on a throwing error.

The Aggies were able to get one run in the ninth off an RBI single from Brandon Wilkerson, but Gardner-Webb’s closer Adam Izokovich shut the door with a pair of strikeouts to secure the win for the Runnin’ Bulldogs.

Gardner-Webb (22-20) will host the Keydets of Virginia Military Institute for their weekend series starting with a game Friday evening. They also will play at 2:00 pm Saturday as well as 2:00 pm Sunday.