MOUNT OLIVE (March 5) – The Trojan offense tallied 23 runs on 25 hits on Tuesday afternoon, as Mount Olive registered a doubleheader sweep over Dominican (NY) in non-conference play at Scarborough Field with an 8-1 win in Game 1 before posting a 15-5 victory in Game 2.
With the sweep, the University of Mount Olive baseball program improves to 12-5 overall while boasting a 6-2 record at home. The Trojans will now prepare to travel to North Greenville this upcoming weekend for a three-game series in Conference Carolinas play. Meanwhile, Dominican drops to 0-6 this season after playing a portion of their early season down in North Carolina.
In Game 1, senior
Justin Koehler secured the win (1-0) after yielding just one earned run on seven hits with seven strikeouts and zero walks in 6.0 innings. A trio of relievers closed out the final three innings while only surrendering one hit.
In the top of the third, Dominican jumped ahead with an RBI single to right field to take a 1-0 edge. After four scoreless innings, the Trojans offense erupted with five runs on four hits, including an RBI single to center field by senior
Dylan Jeffries to grab a 5-1 lead. UMO registered two additional runs in the sixth after capitalizing on a pair of errors by the Chargers, 7-1. Mount Olive brought in another insurance run in the seventh after redshirt sophomore
Garrett Moffett produced a sacrifice fly to left field, 8-1.
Senior
Vito Patierno finished 3-for-5 with two runs scored, while five additional UMO players delivered multi-hit performances in the opening game.
In Game 2, Mount Olive established an early 2-0 advantage following an RBI single through the right side by sophomore
Davis Halstead. Dominican answered back with three runs on four hits in the top of the second, but senior
Alden Cottle responded with a two-run single up the middle to hold a 4-3 edge. In the third inning, graduate student
Gordon Pihl added to the scoring with an RBI single to center field before the Chargers countered with a pair of runs in the top of the fourth.
In the bottom half of the fourth, the Trojan broke open the game with six runs on four hits, highlighted by a two-run single from Pihl. In the fifth, Cottle laced an RBI single through the left side before Jeffries registered an RBI on a sacrifice fly, 13-5. UMO would bring across two more insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth after Patierno delivered an RBI triple down the right-field line while redshirt freshman
Blake Freeman produced an RBI double to right field, 15-5.
Patierno went 3-for-4 at the plate with one RBI and four runs scored, while Cottle and Pihl each tallied two hits and three RBIs in the win.
The Trojans featured six different pitchers in Game 2, as senior Johnny
Maynard was credited with the win (1-0) after tossing 1.0 inning of scoreless relief with two strikeouts. Over the final four frames, UMO held the Chargers to zero runs while recording just one hit.
Mount Olive returns to Conference Carolinas play on Friday, March 8, when they begin a three-game series against North Greenville, starting at 3:30 p.m.
