No. 2-ranked Mount Olive slugs 5 HRs against Barton, sweeps 3-game series

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on March 16, 2010 10:36 AM

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MOUNT OLIVE -- Once the hit parade started, Barton's chances of salvaging a victory in its three-game series against No. 2-ranked Mount Olive College quickly disappeared Tuesday afternoon.

Five Trojans belted home runs in an 18-1 shellacking of the Bulldogs on the Scarborough Field diamond. Mount Olive swept the Conference Carolinas series and outscored Barton 39-2.

Bobby Leeper, Dan Hayduk, Kyle Hinrichs, Thomas McAlpine and 5-foot-8 dynamo Ryan Faison each went yard on the day. As a team, the Trojans have ripped an incredible 48 home runs, an average of two round-trippers per game, in 23 contests this season.

Mount Olive smacked four Barton pitchers around the park for 21 hits in the nine-inning affair. It was the Trojans' fifth straight win in the series and 20th overall in 30 meetings since 2002.

"We do a very good job of not swinging at balls out of the (strike) zone, we really do," said MOC head coach Carl Lancaster. "I think that's why we're hitting like we're hitting because we're not chasing bad pitches. If we get a fastball early, let's go get it.

"If not, let's lay off."

The Bulldogs (12-11 overall, 4-8 CC) loaded the bases during their first at-bat against Trojan southpaw Curtis Hudson. The 6-foot-2 JUCO transfer avoided the scoring threat and eventually threw six scoreless innings for his fourth win of the season.

Hudson scattered five hits and logged four strikeouts. Barton put runners aboard in four of six inning against Hudson, and left four men in scoring position.

"It looked like when he got people on base, he really locked in and did a good job," said Lancaster of Hudson.

The Trojans, ranked No. 5 in the Ping! Baseball poll, erased the scoreless deadlock in the second inning. Hinrichs slapped a lead-off triple to right-center field and trotted home on Topher Ellis' RBI groundout to second base.

Hinrichs clubbed a two-out homer in the third inning and the MOC offense exploded in the fifth. Faison and Leeper swatted back-to-back home runs in an eight-run outburst that all but determined the outcome.

Barton lefty Kramer Sneed took the mound loss.

"(Sneed) was OK early, then we got him in the stretch and started running a little," said Lancaster. "Then he started getting balls up and we hit some balls very well off him. They held, what we felt like and as well as them, their number one pitcher for game.

"That was telling me they feel like they can get one (win) the whole series. But our club is pretty solid."

Hinrichs, Leeper and Faison each just missed hitting for the cycle. The trio combined for 10 hits and six RBI.

Mount Olive (22-1, 11-1) entertains two West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference teams on Wednesday. The Trojans welcome Shepherd University at 1 p.m. and then play Fairmont State at 5 p.m.