North Carolina Central University

BASEBALL

     DURHAM, NC - Playing in its first baseball contest since 1975, North Carolina Central University suffered a 9-1 loss to Wingate University on Tuesday afternoon inside the Durham Bulls Athletic Park in Durham, N.C.
     At 2:01 p.m., NCCU freshman Alex Weathersby (Raleigh, N.C./Southeast Raleigh H.S.) made history by throwing the first pitch by an Eagles baseball hurler since 1975 (The pitch was fouled back to the backstop by leadoff hitter Nick Siega-Riz). That was preceded by a ceremonial first pitch by Artis Plummer, who played baseball for the Eagles in the mid-1940s.
     Wingate (2-2) was led by sophomores Nick Siega-Riz (Clemmons, N.C.) and Michael Parker (Snow Camp, N.C.), who collected three hits apiece. Siega-Riz drove in three runs and scored twice, while Parker scored three times, including on a 345-foot solo home run to the right field bleachers in the top of the sixth inning. Sophomore Blair Troutman (Concord, N.C.) contributed two hits, including an RBI double, and two runs scored for the Bulldogs.
     Rookie pitcher Bryan Bialecki (Richlands, N.C.) opened the game with three no-hit innings for Wingate, followed by four innings of work by sophomore Brian Karcewski (Downingtown, Pa.), who allowed one run on one hit with six strikeouts to earn the victory.
     NCCU sophomore Oliver Jenkins (Rocky Mount, N.C./Rocky Mount H.S.) recorded the Eagles' first hit with a rocket up the middle in the fifth inning and scored the team's lone run on a throwing error later in the inning. Junior Robert Landis tallied the squad's other hit with a single to left field in the eighth inning.
     Weatherby surrendered just one earned run and five hits with seven strikeouts in six innings on the mound, but took the loss for the Eagles.
     NCCU (0-1) travels to Belmont Abbey on Thursday (Feb. 8) for a 2 p.m. contest, and returns to the Durham Bulls Athletic Park on Saturday (Feb. 10) for a doubleheader versus Benedict starting at 1 p.m. Wingate's next game is against Florida Tech in Savannah, Ga. on Saturday, Feb. 10, at 10 a.m.

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