Mount Olive takes two from Abbey

By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on March 27, 2010 11:41 PM

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MOUNT OLIVE -- The last two Division-II college World Series entrants from the Southeast Region met for a double header at Scarborough Field on Saturday.

Mount Olive took both games from Belmont Abbey. The Trojans won the first contest 14-4 and came from behind to capture a 5-3 win in the nightcap.

The turning point of the second game came in the bottom of the fifth inning when Tyler Smith belted a two-run home run that cut the Crusaders lead to 3-2. Ryan Faison reached on an error and was moved into scoring position when Jesse Lancaster drew a walk.

Jeremy Nowak extended his hitting streak to 33 games with a three-run go-ahead home run.

"Belmont Abbey has a solid team and their little lefty (Nate Cudney) kept us off balance at the plate," Mount Olive head coach Carl Lancaster said. "He made two mistakes the whole game and we hit home runs on those two pitches."

Carter Capps finished off the complete game on the pitcher's mound and earned his seventh victory of the year. With a fastball reaching into the mid-90's, Capps was able to strike out six Crusaders.

In game one Mount Olive (29-4 overall, 14-3 CC) left no doubt as they broke out the bats early and often.

Trailing 2-0 in the bottom of the second inning, the Trojans erupted for four runs in the bottom of the stanza. Dan Hayduk reached on an error, Airlon Vinson singled and Kyle Hinrichs walked. Smith plated a run with a productive groundout and Topher Ellis tallied an RBI single.

Ryan Faison delivered a single and Lancaster was hit by a pitch. Nowak capped the scoring outburst by drawing a bases-loaded walk.

The Trojans added four runs in the third inning and one additional marker in the fourth. Ellis and Mike Knox each homered in the seventh inning. Mount Olive played without leadoff man Bobby Leaper who was out due to illness, but Faison filled in admirably with four hits.

Sean Lydon tossed seven strong innings to get the mound win.

"We knew we needed to come into today's games and sweep them both," said Lancaster. "The conference race is close with Erskine and we have to win all our games before we play them next weekend."

The Crusaders (13-17, 10-9) and Trojans will meet again today at noon to complete their three-game set.