WILSON, N.C. - The No. 5 University of Mount Olive baseball team fought off elimination two times today taking down Erskine and Barton in the 2021 Conference Carolinas Baseball Championship Saturday in Wilson, N.C. UMO goes to 35-9 overall.

GAME ONE INFORMATION (Mount Olive 5/Erskine 3)
Mount Olive woke the bats up early breaking into the scoring column in the first on a Joe Mason sacrifice fly to left scoring Blake McLean. One is all the Trojans could manage in the first, however it was not the final run they struck for early on.

Alan Alonso boosted the Trojans to a 2-0 lead after his solo home run to left center.

Erskine answered in the bottom half with a solo home run and then proceeded to tie the game later in the inning with a RBI-single and the two squads knotted up at two after two.
Tolston added to the advantage with a solo shot and Mount Olive led 5-2.

Erskine did not settle for the score line as the scored a run in their final at bats, however, the Trojans held fast and withheld a comeback for the 5-3 victory moving into their second elimination game of the day.

TROJAN LEADERS
Joe Mason led the Trojans with two RBI. Kyle Davis (5-0) earned the win in relief pitching the final three innings allowing a run off two hits and struck out two.

GAME TWO INFORMATION (Mount Olive 13/Barton 9)
Barton controlled the early momentum scoring four runs in the opening frame, highlighted by a three-run home run, as they jumped out to a 4-0 lead.

Mount Olive answered in the bottom half with a Mason RBI-single and drew to a 4-1 line.

The Bulldogs once again had an answer in the third as scoring exchanges went back and forth, as BC put one more run across on a fielding error.

The home half of the third however was efficient for UMO as well as Blake McLean, Joe Mason, and Gunner Tolston all came through with RBI base hits including a home run by McLean. The score deficit for UMO decreased to 5-4 at that point but the following inning Alan Alonso tied the game with another UMO home run.

Barton went onto add three more runs through the next two innings and expanded their lead to 8-5.

Not to be outdone, Mount Olive exploded for five runs in the sixth to take their first lead of the contest. Case Kermode, McLean, Patierno, and Stephen Baughan all joined the hit party in the inning as UMO led 10-8.

After Barton scored a single run in the seventh, UMO scored a run on a wild pitch, and two more on a Mason home run, his fourth of the season, and shut down BC in the ninth to advance to the Conference Carolinas Championship on Sunday.

TROJAN LEADERS
Joe Mason led the Trojans with four RBI. Austin Elliott (2-0) earned the win in relief pitching one and two thirds, allowing a run off no hits and struck out three. Justin Koehler (S:2) picked up the save pitching the final two innings with a hit less outing and struck out four Bulldogs.

BARTON LEADERS
Braydon Olson collected three RBI to lead the way for the Bulldogs.

KEY MOMENT
The five-run sixth inning to finally give UMO it's first lead of the game, allowed UMO to gain some much need momentum, upon which they never gave back.

ON DECK
Mount Olive with the win advances to the Championship Final of the 2021 Conference Carolinas Baseball Championships, with the winner of the Barton/North Greenville game on Saturday at 4 p.m. in Wilson, N.C the neutral site host for the Championships. The Barton/BGU game is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.