Mount Olive finishes off CVAC sweep

By News-Argus Staff
Published in Sports on February 28, 2005 2:28 PM

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MOUNT OLIVE - Josh Carter's two-run single capped a six-run eighth inning as Mount Olive completed a three-game sweep over St. Andrews with an 8-6 victory in Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference baseball Sunday at Scarborough Field.

Trojan pitcher Justin Staatz withstood a ninth-inning rally to pick up the win.

Mount Olive (10-9 overall, 4-2 CVAC) took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on Carter's two-out double and Stephen Nordan's RBI-single. St. Andrews (7-9, 1-4) tied the game with a run in the third and took a 3-1 lead on Greg Wrape's two-run single in the top of the fifth. The Trojans pulled within a run in the bottom half of the frame when Anthony Williams led off with a single and eventually scored on Jonathan Pullen's single. Williams finished with three hits on the day.

Mount Olive broke the game open in the eighth when Nick Paniccia drove home the tying run on a bases-loaded walk with nobody out and Nordan put the Trojans ahead to stay when he scored on a wild pitch. Jonathan Skelley doubled home a run and an error led to the fourth run of the inning. Carter, who walked his first time up in the inning, singled through the left side to score two more runs and give Mount Olive an 8-3 lead.

Staatz (2-1) entered the game in the game with two outs in the seventh, retiring six of the first seven batters he faced. But with a runner on first and two outs, a walk and two errors led to two runs as St. Andrews pulled within 8-5. Everett Kelly singled home a run and a wild pitch put runners on second and third. But Staatz got out of the jam with his second strikeout of the inning to end the game.

Mount Olive returns to action Tuesday as the Trojans travel to Augusta, Ga., to begin a two-game non-conference series against nationally 11th-ranked Augusta State. The two teams play single games Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. and Wednesday at 2 p.m. St. Andrews plays a non-conference doubleheader at Benedict on Tuesday at 2 p.m.