No. 1-ranked Trojans split DH with Wingate

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on March 6, 2013 1:47 PM

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MOUNT OLIVE -- Mount Olive head coach Carl Lancaster knows he has little room to complain when it comes to his team's 18-2 record.

Lancaster just wishes he saw more consistency out of his team.

The top-ranked Trojans split a pair of seven-inning games with Wingate on Tuesday at Scarborough Field. The Bulldogs won game one, 8-7. Mount Olive claimed game two, 9-4.

In the opener, the Trojans squandered a late scoring opportunity and the Bulldogs' capitalized. Mount Olive failed to score with runners on second and third base and no outs in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Grant McCoury's game-tying sacrifice fly and Blake Prince's RBI single put Wingate ahead 8-7 in the top of the seventh inning.

The Trojans' Zak Orrison reached on an error in the bottom of the seventh inning, but was picked off at first base.

"We've got a couple of guys out there that are pressing a little bit," Lancaster said. "You've got to score in situations like that at the end of the game if you want to be a good ball club. We were just not as sharp as I've seen our team. I didn't think in either game we were a good ball club today."

The Bulldogs pushed across a pair of runs in each of the first two innings against Mount Olive starter Derek Justice. Two of those four runs were unearned. Justice surrendered six runs (four earned) on nine hits with two strikeouts and two walks in 42/3 innings.

Braden Reitano led the Trojans with three hits in game one. Mike Mercurio, Daniel Oliver and Orrison each supplied two hits. Mercurio and Jermaine Berry both hit solo home runs.

McCoury belted a two-home run in the top of the fifth inning off Justice. Wingate tallied 13 hits against three Mount Olive pitchers in the opener.

In game two, Mount Olive erupted for six runs with two outs in the bottom of the first inning. Cody Britt's two-run double highlighted the offensive outburst.

The Bulldogs answered with four runs on three hits in the top of the second inning. Trojans' starting pitcher Taylor Carr failed to make it out of the second inning.

Mount Olive tacked on a pair of sac flies in the bottom of the third inning to extend its lead to 8-4. Geno Escalante added a sac fly in the bottom of the fifth. Escalante was held without a hit in both games.

Charles B. Aycock alum Collin DuBose earned the win on the mound with six innings of one-run relief. DuBose allowed four hits and struck out four with two walks for his second win of the season.

"DuBose came in and did a nice job for us," Lancaster said. "He really did. He gave up a few hits here or there, but he scattered them and he didn't let them bunch them together."

The Trojans begin a three-game series against Conference Carolinas foe Barton on Friday night at Scarborough Field. Game time is 6 p.m.