Trojans complete sweep of WS State

By News-Argus Staff
Published in Sports on February 3, 2014 1:48 PM

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RUDY COGGINS

rcoggins@newsargus.com

WINSTON-SALEM -- The University of Mount Olive experienced a good weekend on the baseball diamond, but showed there is plenty of room for improvement.

The No. 4-ranked Trojans polished off their season-opening, three-game sweep of Winston-Salem State, 15-4, at BB&T Ballpark on Sunday afternoon. UMO improved to 60-0 all-time against Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association opposition since 1994.

"We played really good defense the whole weekend, made some nice plays in our middle infield," said Trojans head coach Carl Lancaster, whose team committed just five errors in 27 innings. "Overall, our bullpen was really good. Our starters gave us a chance, going (either) 41/2 or five innings. Everybody that we brought with us on the road, got at least an inning.

"One or two struggled with their command, but overall we were really pleased with them."

Gunner Kines secured the mound win with three innings of two-hit, three-strikeout relief behind East Carolina transfer and starter Deshorn Lake. Five UMO hurlers combined to surrender four earned runs on 13 hits, but held Winston-Salem State (0-3 overall) scoreless in six innings.

UMO gave Lake a three-run cushion during its first at-bat. Defensive miscues by WSSU allowed the Trojans to push across three runs. Chase Edwards, Rob Shipman and Willi Martin each collected an RBI.

WSSU closed to within 3-2 during its half of the first inning. However, the Trojans responded with three second-inning runs. Zak Orrison provided the big hit, a two-RBI single, while Cody Britt also scored a run.

Lancaster said the team had better plate approaches compared to Saturday's doubleheader where UMO struck out 19 times. The Trojans had just three Ks against seven WSSU pitchers, who combined to issue nine walks and yield nine unearned runs.

Martin, Britt and DeAndre Allen (three RBI) pounded out three hits apiece. Orrison, Shipman and Colby Conway each had two hits. Edwards, Reitano, Tyler Farmer and lead-off man Jay Gonzalez each scratched out one hit.

UMO had 37 total hits in the three-game series.

"We got to play a lot of people today, in particular," said Lancaster, who called upon 10 reserves. "We were able to put some different looks out there because some people are pushing each other. A lot of questions were answered in the personnel area, but there are a few things we really have to work on."