Mount Olive senior Jake Moser tossed a two-hit shutout and Geno Escalante became only the eighth player in NCAA II baseball history to hit safely in at least 40 consecutive games as the nationally top-ranked Trojans advanced to the championship game of the 2012 Conference Carolinas Baseball Tournament with a 4-0 win over North Greenville in the winner's bracket final Saturday at Fleming Stadium in Wilson, N.C. Moser came within one out of becoming the second Trojan in program history to hurl a one-hitter in postseason play.

Mount Olive (41-7) advances to Championship Sunday unbeaten for the second straight year. The Trojans take on No. 6 seed Erskine in the title game at 1 p.m. Live Video and Live Stats are available.

The Trojans took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third as Cameron Sherrer drew a lead-off walk and advanced to second on a sacrifice by Will Bynum. One out later, Mike Mercurio delivered a single to left to provide the Trojans a 1-0 lead.

Moser allowed an infield single to Derek Fulmer to lead off the bottom of the third. A two-out error put runners on first and third, but Moser recorded one of his four strikeouts on the day to end the threat.

Moser allowed the Crusaders just three more base-runners, retiring 21-of-23 batters at one point. He got plenty of help from his defense. Mercurio made a leaping catch at shortstop to prevent a hit in the seventh and Bryan Dunlavey chased down a long fly ball to the warning track in the eighth.

"We have a great defense. One of the best in the country. It makes it easy to pitch when you've got these guys behind you," said Moser.

Despite pitching a one-hitter through eight innings, Moser still had only a 1-0 lead to work with, thanks to North Greenville starter Ryan Woodring. After allowing the Trojans' third-inning run, Woodring (7-3) retired the side in order in each of the next three innings and retired 16-of-18 batters through the eighth inning.

The Trojans finally broke through against Woodring again in the top of the ninth. Jacob Rogers led off with a walk and advanced to second when Geno Escalante reached on a bunt single. The hit was the third of the day for Escalante, who extended his hitting streak to 40 consecutive games with a leadoff single in the second in his first at bat of the contest.

Runners were still on first and second after two line drives were snared by the Crusader defense. Sherrer drilled a sharp grounder to short, but the ball glanced off the glove of the fielder to load the bases. Bynum then legged out an infield single to bring home the second run. Dunlavey then gave Moser some more breathing room with a two-run single to right.

Moser gave up a walk and hit in the ninth before getting a groundout to second to end the game. Sherrer ranged to his left and onto the fringe of the outfield grass to knock down the ball and recover in time for the final out.

"I think I just got excited there at the end. I wasn't tired," said Moser. "I was really focused out there and the game being close forced me to make good pitches. We can score runs in bunches. It's only a matter of time before we were going to push across some more runs."

Moser narrowly missed matching Casey Hodges' feat against Georgia College in the winner's bracket final of the 2007 NCAA Division II South Atlantic Regional at Grainger Stadium in Kinston, N.C. Hodges retired the final 20 batters he faced after allowing a one-out bunt single in the third.

The Trojans defeated Erskine 14-5 Thursday in the opening round, but the Flying Fleet have won three straight elimination games. Erskine posted wins over King and North Greenville Saturday to advance to the championship game.

Mount Olive is just one win away from its 11 conference championship overall and sixth in the last seven years. Erskine needs to win twice Sunday to capture the championship. The tournament champion earns an automatic bid to the Southeast Regional of the 2012 NCAA Division II Baseball Championship.