FLORENCE, S.C. (April 16) – Redshirt senior
Mike Kenney delivered a walk-off RBI double to center field, as the Trojans captured a 7-6 victory over Newberry in 12 innings on Wednesday afternoon in a non-conference matchup at Carolina Bank Field.
With the win, the University of Mount Olive baseball program improves to 23-18 overall and sweeps the season series over the Wolves for a third-straight season. The Trojans return to Scarborough Field this weekend for a three-game series against Barton, starting Friday at 4 p.m. Meanwhile, Newberry drops to 22-21 this season.
Mount Olive established an early 1-0 advantage in the bottom of the first following an RBI single through the right side by redshirt junior
Garrett Moffett. The Wolves countered in the second frame with a sacrifice fly to center field to knot the contest at 1-1.
In the bottom of the third, junior
Ryder Hancock belted a two-run double down the left-field line before fellow junior
Tariq Talley labeled an RBI single up the middle, 4-1. UMO added to its advantage in the fourth as junior
Lane McLean registered an RBI double down the left-field line, 5-1.
Newberry capitalized on an error by the Trojans in the top of the sixth to score three unearned runs and trail by a 5-4 margin. Following two scoreless innings, the Wolves rallied to take the lead in the top of the ninth after scoring a pair of runs on four hits, 6-5. Mount Olive tied the game at 6-6 in the bottom half of the frame after McLean produced a sacrifice fly to score senior
Wade Kelly.
In the bottom of the 12th, Moffett led off with a single up the middle before advancing to second on a wild pitch. With one out, Kenney recorded the game-winning RBI double to center field to secure the 7-6 victory.
Kelly went a perfect 5-for-5 at the plate with two runs scored and a stolen base. McLean and Hancock each finished 2-for-5 with two runs batted in while Moffett tallied two hits, one RBI, and two runs scored.
The Trojans featured eight pitchers in the midweek contest, as senior
Witt Branham earned the win (1-0) after tossing 1.0 inning of scoreless relief. Freshman
John Nelson McLamb, senior
Aiken Minton, and freshman
Kole Hopkins each tossed 1.0 scoreless inning while senior
Gavin Wilson registered 2.0 innings of relief on the mound.
Mount Olive returns to Scarborough Field on Friday, April 18, to start a three-game series versus Barton with Game 1 set to start at 4 p.m.
