Bradon Reitano became only the second player in school history to hit for the cycle, and the first to do it at Scarborough Field as nationally 20th-ranked Mount Olive completed a high-scoring doubleheader sweep with a 21-7 victory over Belmont Abbey in game two of a Conference Carolinas baseball doubleheader Saturday. Mike Mercurio went 5-for-5 with a grand slam as both teams took advantage of strong winds blowing to left field to combine for 14 home runs in the twinbill.
Mount Olive took the opener 14-10 as the Trojans slugged three of their five home runs during a six-run third inning, then withstood a late rally. Reitano, Jacob Rogers and Antonio Callaway each hit two-run homers in the inning.
Reitano got his cycle started with a pair of hits in an eight-run third inning. He tripled in the first run of the inning, then singled after Mercurio cleared the bases with a grand slam home run. In the fifth, Reitano joined the home run parade with a two-run shot, his second of the season. He hit his first of the season in game one.
Reitano completed his cycle with an rbi-double in the Trojans' six-run sixth inning. He finished with four rbi's in the game.
No Trojan had ever hit for the cycle until last year when Michael Knox performed the feat at North Carolina Wesleyan. Knox, a 2011 All-America and Southeast Region Player of the Year, was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in last year's Major League Baseball Draft.
In the nightcap, Mount Olive (7-4, 2-0 in Conference Carolinas) sent at least nine batters to the plate in three of the seven innings. Already leading 2-1, the Trojans sent 13 men to the plate during an eight-run outburst. Mercurio and Reitano each had two hits in the inning, while Geno Escalante belted his second homer of the season. Cameron Sherrer also singled in a run. Mercurio capped the inning by slugging his second homer of the season.
In the fifth, Mount Olive extended its lead after the Crusaders (11-6, 3-2) retired the first two batters. Mercurio singled ahead of Reitano's second homer of the series, then Daniel Oliver and Jermaine Berry singled between an error.
All nine Trojan starters scored at least one run, and 10 players drove in a run.
On the mound, Talton Cherry struck out 10 without a walk in 6.1 innings, picking up his first win of the season.
In the opener, Callaway's blast gave the Trojans a 9-1 lead, but no lead was safe in the weather conditions. Daniel Oliver's three-run shot in the bottom of the first quickly erased an early Crusader lead. Oliver's second homer of the season came after Matt Patrone was hit by a pitch and Mercurio walked.
Trojan pitcher Jake Moser (3-0) was the beneficiary of the production. The Trojan lead grew to 12-2 after a three-run fifth. Rogers walked and came around to score on a wild pitch, Jermaine Berry was hit by a pitch and Cameron Sherrer and Callaway followed with RBI-singles. The runs were only scored in the game by either team not scored by home runs.In the top of the seventh, Belmont Abbey came storming back Emilio Pagan slugged the first of his two homers as part of a six-run uprising. Trojan reliever Chris Hinton slowed down the Crusaders momentarily, but a two-run shot by Pagan in the ninth made things interesting again.
Matt Dillon got the final out to end the game.
Five players had at least two hits for Mount Olive. Oliver, Rogers and Callaway each drove in three.
The two teams conclude their series Sunday afternoon. First pitch is 1 p.m.
