Trojans, Dogs split CVAC baseball doubleheader

By Gabe Whisnant
Published in Sports on March 26, 2006 2:11 AM

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MOUNT OLIVE -- No matter the type of game -- slug-fest or pitcher's duel -- the Mount Olive-Barton rivalry usually brings out the best in both teams.

Saturday's doubleheader at Scarborough Field was no different.

The Trojans took game one with balanced offense as four different batters had two hits each in a 10-6 win over their archrivals. Mount Olive jumped out to a 3-0 lead after one inning on its way to a 10-1 advantage after five innings -- giving starter and winner Phillip Pennington (3-2) plenty of run support.

Lead-off man David Cooper had three hits, one RBI and scored two runs from the lead-off spot. Lance Martin contributed a home run and drove in two from the second spot. Josh Harrison (3-4, double, 2 RBI) and Stephan Nordan (2-5, double, RBI) also had solid offensive games in a six, extra-base hit attack against a quartet of Bulldog pitchers.

Much unlike the first game, Saturday's second contest saw both pitchers -- Barton's Brock Godwin and Mount Olive's Justin Staatz -- in control of the scheduled seven-inning tilt.

The Trojans, who were scoreless through five innings and trailed 2-0, rallied for one run each against Godwin in the sixth and seventh to force extra innings.

In the top of the eighth, Barton answered as Eric McInerny smacked a 1-2 offering from Staatz over the left field fence to push the score to its final margin, 3-2. The home run was McInerny's second solo shot of game two and his third of the day overall after hitting a two-run blast in the opener.

"Both pitchers did a great job. Staatz threw the best game he's thrown all year for us," MOC coach Carl Lancaster said. "He made a bad pitch on 1-2 to a guy that can leave the yard, and it ended up costing us the game. We needed that win, but he just didn't make the pitch. Still, you can't take anything away from his effort."

After the split, the 29th-ranked Trojans (21-10 overall), currently sit at 10-7 in the Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference -- good for third place with seven league games left before the conference tournament. The Bulldogs (17-14 overall) lead the CVAC standings at 10-4.

Martin's two-run home run in the first game, his fifth of the season, put Mount Olive up 7-1 in the bottom of the fourth. The home team tacked on one more run in the fourth after a Barton error, then put up three in the fifth -- keyed by extra base hits from Dustin Richardson, Kyle Curtis and Cooper.

The consistent support proved to be plenty for Pennington, last week's CVAC pitcher of the week. Pennington consistently stayed around the strike zone, fanning five against only one walk in seven innings of work. Barton managed just two, multi-hit innings against the junior from Charles B. Aycock, who gave up four runs on nine hits.

"We may have left Pennington out a couple more innings than we would have liked, but we've got some arms down and we needed to extend things a little longer," Lancaster said. "They got some runs on him late, but that didn't bother us since we were in the lead."

Chris Hill endured the loss for the Bulldogs, yielding 10 runs (nine earned) on 13 hits with just one strikeout and two walks in 4 1/3 innings.

In game two, Barton struck for its first run against Staatz in the third on a two-out single to left by Tyler Petty, before going up 2-0 in the sixth on a solo homer to left by McInerny. Staatz finished with 10 strikeouts against two walks, giving up only five hits in eight innings of work. The Trojans made two errors in the fifth -- their only two errors of the twinbill -- but, Staatz pitched around the miscues to keep Barton off the board.

After getting just two hits against Godwin in the first five innings, the Trojans finally put up a run in the sixth when Cooper brought home Curtis, who started the inning with a double, with an RBI groundout. With two outs in the seventh, Mount Olive tied the game in dramatic fashion as Tim Morgan, pinch-running for Curtis, scored from third on a double-steal. Barton catcher, David Bunn, elected to try to get Richardson going to second on the play, but Morgan's slide knocked the ball from Bunn's mitt on the throw back to the plate to make it 2-2.

Curtis and Richardson both singled in the seventh.

With a mixture of pitches, Godwin faced just two, three-ball counts in eight innings of work -- walking none and striking out six. The senior from Wilson gave up five hits and two runs and had four 1-2-3 innings.

After McInerny's homer in the eighth with one out made it 3-2, Godwin retired the side to finish off the win for the visitors.

"Staatz did a wonderful job and threw a tremendous game," Barton coach Todd Wilkinson said. "He's (Godwin) a top pitcher in Division II baseball. He keeps you off balance and he's a great competitor. We needed that after the first game."

The two archrivals finish up the three-game series today at 1 p.m. at Scarborough Field.

Game one

Barton 001 002 102 -- 6 11 2

Mount Olive 301 230 00x -- 10 14 0

Leading hitters -- Barton -- Travis Holloman 3-4, 2 runs; Will Walmsley 3-5, HR, 2 RBI, 2 runs; Brock Godwin 2-5, RBI; Eric McInerny 1-5 HR, 2 RBI. Mount Olive -- David Cooper 3-5, 3B, RBI, 2 runs; Lance Martin 2-4, HR, 2 RBI, 2 runs; Stephan Nordan 2-5, 2B, RBI; Josh Harrison 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Kyle Curtis 1-3, 2B, RBI.

IP H R ER BB SO

Barton

C. Hill (L) 4 1/3 13 10 9 2 1

J. Evans 1 2/3 1 0 0 0 0

B. Brinson 1 0 0 0 0 0

R. Malkmus 1 0 0 0 1 1

Mount Olive

P. Pennington (W, 3-2) 7 9 4 4 1 5

P. Buhrow 1 1 0 0 0 1

P. Ball 1 1 2 2 1 0

Game two

Barton 001 001 01 -- 3 5 0

Mount Olive 000 001 10 -- 2 5 2

Leading hitters -- Barton -- Eric McInerny 2-4, 2 HRs, 2 RBI; Tyler Petty 2-4, RBI. Mount Olive -- Kyle Curtis 1-3, 2B; Stephen Nordan 1-3, run; Dustin Richardson 1-3; Josh Harrison 1-3; Graham Wooten 1-3.

IP H R ER BB SO

Barton

B. Godwin (W) 8 5 2 2 0 6

Mount Olive

J. Staatz (L, 4-4) 8 5 3 3 2 10