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GREENSBORO - The N.C. A&T baseball team finished exams and a season sweep of UNCG on Wednesday. And the Aggies got to enjoy it all for about 12 hours.

The celebration of the 5-3 victory over the Spartans will be low-key today in the cramped quarters of a bus bound for Jackson, Miss. After a three-game series at Jackson State, the Aggies (25-26) will head for a makeup game Monday at Maryland-Eastern Shore. They'll spend a night in a motel and head to Raleigh the following day for a game against N.C. State. Then they'll turn around and go to Norfolk, Va., for the MEAC tournament.

"Hey, this is the fun part," starting pitcher Chris Eggers said after throwing five innings and getting the victory over UNCG (30-20). "There's no stress out here."

For both teams, the sanctuary of the diamond is a welcomed release from recently completed academic demands. The Spartans, one game off the Southern Conference lead, can focus on their six remaining league games in their pursuit of front-running Elon.

It's certainly an eventful time of the year, and Eggers can probably attest to that as well as anybody. On Monday, he took exams in accounting, Spanish and production management. He spent his Tuesday morning in another test, this one in intermediate accounting, and his schedule worked that way only because he asked professors and deans for a change of plans. He was originally scheduled to take all four exams Monday.

The Aggies said there are at least two ways to slog through it all. One is to pick the brain of second baseman James Howard, who last got a grade lower than an "A" in high school. The other is to pick a good seat on the bus.

"You've got to sit around people who won't talk your head off," Eggers said.

A&T, which beat the Spartans 10-7 at NewBridge Bank Park on April 2, will enter the MEAC tournament seeded only behind Bethune-Cookman, widely considered the class of black college baseball.

The Aggies have endured a schedule heavy on travel and rigorous nonconference games, which has compelled some of coach Keith Shumate's comrades to question his sanity.

"We're late in developing, but we're getting there," Shumate said. "We believe (the schedule) produces the kind of feeling you want to have late in the season."

So does the normal lineup. A&T starts four seniors, including fifth-year guy Jeremy Jones. All four pitchers used Wednesday - Eggers and relievers J.P. Primus, Tim Johnson and closer Marquis Frink - are seniors. So is right fielder Joe McIntyre, who drove in three runs.

The core of the club remembers the thrill of the MEAC title in 2006.

The Spartans, 14-7 in the SoCon, are equally equipped. The school won the conference's regular-season title in 1998, its first season in the league, but it has finished above fourth only once since. Having swept the College of Charleston at home last weekend, UNCG is in position for its best season in a decade.

Ricky Orton, who homered three times in one game against Charleston, is among the nation's top 50 players in eight offensive categories.

An at-large NCAA tournament bid is unlikely for the Spartans, who entered Wednesday 64th in RPI. At minimum they'll have to run the table in the regular season and do something noteworthy in the SoCon tournament, but that's not a massive stretch. Much like the Aggies, they're looking at a long road trip with this weekend's sojourn to Georgia Southern.

Contact Rob Daniels at 373-7028 or rob.daniels@news-record.