TIGERVILLE, S.C. (May 19) – Senior pitcher
Dawson Gause produced six strikeouts in 5.0 innings of relief, as the No. 13 ranked Trojans secured a 13-7 victory over No. 1 North Greenville on Friday night in the Southeast Regional at Ashmore Park.
With the win, the University of Mount Olive baseball program claim their sixth-straight win to improve to 38-15 overall and are one win away from advancing to the NCAA Super Regional. The Trojans have defeated the Crusaders in three of four meetings this season and secured their first win over NGU on its home field since 2018. Meanwhile, North Greenville falls to 45-9 this season and suffered its first loss at home since May 28, 2022 after previously winning 28-straight games at Ashmore Park.
Gause made just his third appearance out of the bullpen and yielded one run on four hits with six strikeouts in 5.0 innings pitched. He retired the side in order twice while also producing a pair of double plays in the win. Gause improves to 5-2 this season and sits second on the team with 59 strikeouts over 61.1 innings on the mound.
Mount Olive batted around the lineup in the bottom of the first inning after tallying five runs on four hits. Junior
Dylan Jeffries drew a leadoff walk before senior
Jack Casbarro blasted a two-run homer to left field, his seventh of the year, to take a 2-0 edge. The next at-bat, graduate student
Landon Choboy launched a solo homer to left-center, his ninth of the season, to extend the lead, 3-0. A single to right-center from senior
JT Stone and a pair of walks loaded the bases. With two outs, junior
Mike Kenney collected an RBI with a bases-loaded walk before Jeffries registered an RBI on a hit down the first-base line, 5-0.
In the top of the second, North Greenville answered back with a leadoff solo homer to center field before the Trojans stranded a pair of runners in the bottom half. The Crusaders tied the game at 5-5 in the top of the third following a pair of homers, including a three-run home run from Faile to left field. In the top of the fourth, NGU grabbed the lead on a sacrifice fly to take its first advantage of the game, 6-5. Mount Olive countered in the bottom of the fourth with four runs on three hits to regain the lead at 9-6. Following a pair of walks, junior
Alden Cottle recorded an RBI single through the left side to knot the contest at 6-6. The next at-bat, senior
Joshua Jones ripped an RBI single to left field before Kenney belted a two-run double in the right-center field gap to stretch the advantage to 9-6.
The Trojans continued to add to the lead in bottom of the fifth after a hit-by-pitch, a single and a walk quickly loaded the bases with no outs. During the following at-bat, junior
Vito Patierno scored a wild pitch before Stone drew a walk to reload the bases. George collected an RBI a walk before Cottle produced an RBI single through the right side, 12-6. With two outs, Kenney tallied his fourth RBI of the contest after a sacrifice fly to right-center, 13-6. North Greenville cut into the deficit one more time in the seventh on a solo homer to trail by a 13-7 margin. The Trojans turned a double play in the eighth before retiring the side in order in the ninth to seal the win.
Casbarro finished 2-for-5 with a two-run homer and two runs scored while Cottle went 2-for-4 with two RBI, one run scored, and a walk. Jeffries registered a pair of hits, one RBI, one run scored, and one walk, while Kenney totaled four RBI on Friday night.
Mount Olive returns to action tomorrow, Saturday, May 20, to face No. 1 North Greenville in Game 2 of a best-of-three series with first pitched set for 2 p.m.
