ROME, Ga. (April 12) – Despite dropping the series on Saturday afternoon, the University of Mount Olive baseball program salvaged a doubleheader split at Shorter in Conference Carolinas action with a 2-1 loss in Game 1 before securing a 6-1 win in Game 2.
With the split, the Trojans stand at 22-18 this season with a 12-12 record in conference play. Mount Olive has eight contests left in the regular season with a pair of Conference Carolinas series as it continues to battle for seeding. Meanwhile, the Hawks move to 24-16 overall behind a 12-12 mark in league action.
In Game 2, junior
Lucas Glover (2-2) delivered a gem on the mound to earn the win on Saturday afternoon. He surrendered one earned run on three hits with six strikeouts and four walks in 7.0 innings pitched (109 pitches). Graduate student
Hayden Myrick tossed the final 2.0 innings in relief and registered two strikeouts.
After two scoreless frames, junior
Lane McLean hit an RBI single to center field to score redshirt junior
Anthony Mitta, 1-0. Later in the top of the third, junior
Kayden Crawford scored from third following a wild pitch to extend the lead, 2-0. Shorter would answer in the bottom of the fourth with a solo homer to left field to cut the deficit to 2-1.
In the top of the seventh, Mount Olive loaded the bases following two walks and a hit-by-pitch. With one out, McLean registered a two-run single through the left side to stretch the advantage to 4-1. Redshirt junior
Garrett Moffett delivered an RBI on a ground out during the next at-bat before McLean scored on a throwing error to take a 6-1 lead. The Trojans held Shorter scoreless in the final five frames to seal the win.
McLean finished 3-for-5 with three runs batted in, one run scored, and three stolen bases. Crawford went 2-for-5 with one run scored while Mitta finished 1-for-2 with two runs scored and two walks.
In Game 1, the Hawks climbed in front with an RBI single up the middle in the bottom of the first before scoring another run off an RBI double to right-center, 2-0. Meanwhile, the Trojans were held to just one hit through the initial five frames of the contest. Mount Olive got on the board in the top of the sixth with a solo homer to right field by Crawford, his second of the year, 2-1.
The Trojans managed to load the bases in the final inning with two outs, but a strikeout swinging closed out the game.
Fifth-year
John Horton (3-2) suffered the loss after yielding two earned runs on six hits with six strikeouts and no walks in 6.0 innings of work (84 pitches).
UMO returns to action on Wednesday, April 16, to face Newberry in non-conference play in Florence, South Carolina, with the first pitch set for 3 p.m.
