MOC baseball downs Chowan

By MOC Sports Information
Published in Sports on April 5, 2012 1:49 PM

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MOC Sports Information

MOUNT OLIVE -- Senior right-hander Chris Hinton tossed 32/3 innings of shutout relief and No. 5-ranked Mount Olive College -- for the second straight day -- used a late-inning rally to defeat in-state rival Chowan University, 10-5, at Scarborough Field on Wednesday afternoon.

The Trojans won their 18th straight game.

Mount Olive (29-6 overall) built a 5-0 lead in the bottom of the third, but the Hawks (19-20) rallied with a single run in the fourth, then tied the game with four more in the fifth.

Hinton settled things down for Mount Olive in the sixth. With a runner on first and no outs, he coaxed a ground ball double play to end the threat.

The Trojans regained control in the seventh.

Mount Olive batted around against Hawk relievers Tyler Ross (0-6) and Ryan Bradshaw, scoring five times. Jacob Rogers reached on an error to get things started, then raced to third on Geno Escalante's double off the center-field wall.

Escalante finished with two hits in the game to extend his hitting streak to 27 games. An intentional walk to Daniel Oliver loaded the bases for pinch-hitter Nick Gaeta, who delivered a sacrifice fly to center to put the Trojans ahead for good.

Daniel Coffey followed with a two-run double to right, then Will Bynum and Mike Mercurio capped off the rally with RBI singles.

Chowan got a pair runners on base in the eighth and ninth innings, but Hinton (3-0) worked his way out of trouble both times with help from his defense. On consecutive plays in the ninth, Mercurio made plays to prevent hits and a pair of scoops in the dirt by first baseman Oliver kept the Hawks at bay.

The Trojans travel to preseason Conference Carolinas favorite Limestone (S.C.) College for a three-game series that begins Friday with a doubleheader. The teams will play single game Saturday.