Mount Olive crushes Anderson, sweeps baseball twinbill

By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on February 20, 2010 11:06 PM

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MOUNT OLIVE -- Business as usual.

Mount Olive unleashed a hitting barrage en route to a doubleheader sweep of Conference Carolinas baseball rival Anderson (S.C.) University on Saturday afternoon. The Trojans claimed the opener 14-5 and rolled 15-0 in the nightcap at Scarborough Field.

Through eight games, Mount Olive has outscored its opponents 124-21 and cruised to eight consecutive wins. The No. 16-ranked Trojans are 5-0 against league opposition heading into today's series finale. First pitch is 1 p.m.

"I thought our guys did a nice job of getting some timely hits and we were able to hit the ball hard most of the day," said Mount Olive head coach Carl Lancaster. "I thought we made a few mistakes in the first game, but we made up for it at the plate."

Anderson (5-6 overall, 2-2 CC) opened up a 3-0 lead in the first inning of game one.

Mount Olive immediately responded with three runs of its own when Jeremy Nowak belted a two-run double that plated Bobby Leeper and Jesse Lancaster. Dan Hayduk followed with the game-tying single.

After four scoreless innings by both teams, the Trojans broke the contest open in the home half of the sixth. Airlon Vinson reached on an error and was followed by back-to-back singles from Daniel Coffey and Tyler Smith.

Leeper reached safely on Anderson's second miscue of the inning and Lancaster followed with a two-run home run.

"Our guys are swinging the bats well right now and we have a little confidence," said coach Lancaster. "Hopefully we can keep that going and not use it up early."

Sean Lydon earned the win on the mound. The lanky right-hander lasted seven innings and allowed three runs on six hits.

North Lenoir standout Carter Capps emerged the winning pitcher in the nightcap. Capps tossed six frames of shutout baseball before giving way to Jeremy Hall.

The Trojans scored five runs in the first inning when Leeper belted a double and Nowak followed with a two-base hit of his own. Mike Knox added an RBI double. Hayduk and Vinson completed the scoring when they each crossed home plate on Anderson walks with the bases loaded.

Leeper led the victors with a perfect 4-for-4 effort that included three runs scored. Hayduk finished with just one hit, a three-run homer, in the sixth inning.