No. 2-ranked Mount Olive escapes St. Augustine's

By MOC Sports Information
Published in Sports on April 11, 2013 1:47 PM

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CARY -- Derek Justice silenced a final-inning rally and No. 2-ranked Mount Olive College escaped in-state foe St. Augustine's, 11-8, at the USA Baseball National Training Center on Wednesday evening.

St. Aug's pulled to within 11-5 on Carey Cheek's three-RBI double in the eighth inning. Clarence Peace swatted a three-run home run in the bottom of the night before Justice took the mound.

He logged the final out and earned his second save of the season.

Mount Olive, which scored 11 runs over a five-inning span, extended its season-best win streak to 14 games. Matt Petrone collected three hits and four RBI.

The Trojans got 16 hits from 10 different batters. Mike Mercurio's two hits marked his fourth consecutive multi-hit game. He is 9-for-15 with a double and a homer during that span.

Mount Olive hurler Talton Cherry (2-1) picked up the win with two innings of work out of the bullpen. Cherry was the second of seven Trojan pitchers to work in the game.

The Trojans (36-4 overall) returns home Friday to start a three-game Conference Carolinas series against Limestone (S.C.) College. Saturday's doubleheader will serve as a fund-raiser for the Kevin Wise Jr. Memorial Scholarship Fund. All proceeds will benefit the fund.

Men's volleyball

MOUNT OLIVE -- Fourth-seeded Limestone (S.C.) College stunned top-seeded and regular-season champion Mount Olive College 25-21, 25-23, 19-25, 25-21 during semifinal-round play of the 2013 Conference Carolinas men's volleyball tournament Wednesday evening.

Angel Dache recorded a career-high 25 kills for the Trojans, who concluded the year 22-6 overall and were denied a fourth consecutive trip to the tournament finals.

MOC has won three regular-season crowns in the league's four-year history.

Dache's kills total is the most by a Trojan in the Conference Carolinas tournament and tied for the third highest single-match total in school history. Dache had only four errors in 46 attempts for a .457 hitting percentage.

Senior Adam Miracle, who holds the school single-match record with 28 kills, posted a double-double with 16 kills and 10 digs. Miracle finished his career as the Trojans' all-time kills leader with 958. Senior libero Dan Arnold had a match-high 14 digs and ended his collegiate career with a school record 553 digs.

Alex Rivero finished with 12 kills in his final college match, while Quaid Marin recorded career highs of 54 assists and 11 digs for his first collegiate double-double. Tim Ebbecke had a match-high four blocks in his collegiate finale. Fellow senior Giora Sela also played his final college match.