Mount Olive junior Geno Escalante drove in four with a pair of doubles and Will Bynum slugged a go-ahead homer and the Trojans ran away from visiting California (Pa.) 12-3 in non-conference baseball Thursday afternoon at Scarborough Field.

The Trojans (11-5) won its season-best fourth consecutive game behind starting pitcher Zach Smith (2-2). Smith recovered from a slow start to pitch into the sixth inning. Justin Weaver, Nolan Lancaster and Chris Hinton shut out the Vulcans the rest of the way.

Mount Olive struck first with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first. Mike Mercurio walked and beat a throw to second on a grounder by Jacob Rogers. Both runners raced home on Escalante's first double.

The Vulcans got both runs back in the second. California opened the frame with four consecutive singles. Matt Peters drove in the first run with a single to left. Joey Borrelli followed two batters later with a game-tying RBI-hit.

Smith helped his own cause by picking off Peters to get out of the inning.

Mount Olive took the lead for good in the fourth. Jermaine Berry led off with a single, moved to second on Antonio Callaway's sacrifice bunt, then trotted home on Bynum's blast into the wind to left field. Bynum's homer came with two outs and two strikes. In the top of the frame, Mount Olive maintained the tie when Bryan Dunlavey gunned down Peters at the plate to end the inning.

In the fifth, the Trojans blew the game open. Bradon Reitano singled to start the inning, then drove in the last of his team's six runs to end the frame. In between, Rogers singled ahead of back-to-back doubles from Escalante and Berry. California also walked three batters in the outburst.

In the sixth, leadoff walks to Rogers and Escalante set the stage for an RBI-single by Callaway and an RBI-double by Cameron Sherrer.

Nine different Trojans had at least one hit, including three by Berry.

Borelli led the Vulcans with three hits.

Mount Olive returns to Conference Carolinas play Saturday with a doubleheader against King (Tenn.) Saturday afternoon. First pitch is slated for noon.