Courtesy of North Carolina A&T State Athletic Communications


GREENSBORO, N.C. – The North Carolina A&T State baseball team was poised for another big season in 2020 before the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) announced the cancellation of all spring sports due to the coronavirus.
 
The Aggies were the favorites to win the conference this season.
 
N.C. A&T had a record of 7-10 at the time of the cancellation, but before that, the Aggies were able to earn Power Five victories against Boston College on Feb. 28 and March 2, marking the second straight season N.C. A&T defeated a Power Five opponent; the Aggies defeated South Carolina 2-0 in Columbia, S.C. in 2019.
 
Junior lefty Ethan Chavis and senior right-hander Cole Parks each earned MEAC Pitcher of the Week honors and redshirt freshman Connor Knapp earned Rookie of the Week for the Aggies in the shortened season.
 
In an appearance against Fairfield on Feb. 29, Chavis threw seven innings and allowed just one run on four hits with a season-high nine strikeouts to earn the honor.
 
Parks got the start against Lehigh on March 8 and went seven innings allowing no runs and only one hit with a career-high 11 strikeouts, the most for any Aggie during the season. Over the weekend of Feb. 22-23, Knapp went 5-fof-9 with a double and five RBI.
 
The Aggies had four preseason All-MEAC selections. Senior RHP Michael Johnson was named conference's Preseason Pitcher of the Year. The other first teamers were senior shortstop Dustin Baber, senior reliever Leon Davidson and senior catcher Ryne Stanley.
 
With the NCAA allowing seniors of spring sports to return for an additional year, the Aggies could return all four players in 2021.
 
Senior outfielder Camden Williamson could also return. He was riding a 16-game hitting streak when the season came to a close and was third on the team in batting average at .317. Williamson also had a team-high 20 hits and two home runs.
 
Junior outfielder Justin Rodriguez sported a team-best .362 batting average.
 
Chavis had the best ERA (2.77) out of the Aggies starting rotation while senior closer Evan Gates had a team-high 26 strikeouts. Chavis was right behind with 25 while Johnson had 20.
 
A&T was 2-7 after an 8-0 midweek defeat at the hands of North Carolina, but started to find themselves and won five of their next eight games including a weekend sweep of Boston College and Fairfield and a victory over future Big South conference foe Gardner-Webb.
 
In what ended up being the last game of the season, the Aggies nearly defeated No. 9 N.C. State in Raleigh, but gave up three runs in the bottom of the ninth and fell just short, 8-7.