Conference Carolinas: Mount Olive gets a "Trojan Triple" on championship day

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on April 28, 2014 1:48 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

BURLINGTON -- Weary from a day of traveling on the interstate, University of Mount Olive athletics direction Jeff Eisen settled into the driver's seat of his car and pulled out his cell phone.

He typed in #GDTBAT.

Indeed, it was a (G)reat (D)ay (T)o (B)e A (T)rojan. Mount Olive emerged as the automatic qualifier to the NCAA Division II playoffs after winning Conference Carolinas tournament titles in baseball, softball and men's tennis on Sunday afternoon. One day earlier, the Trojans swept the men's and women's track and field championships in Banner Elk.

"A pretty good weekend for us, a pretty good spring season," Eisen said.

The Trojans, undoubtedly, lived up to their billing in preseason conference polls. Eisen expected the teams to compete well across the board, and challenge for league championships in regular-season and tournament play.

The baseball team encountered some internal problems and started slow. A weekend series against then-No. 23 ranked Erskine served as the turning point in mid-March. UMO didn't lose another game and extended its win streak to 23 with a come-from-behind, 10-9 win over King (Tenn.) in the tournament final Sunday afternoon at Burlington Athletic Park.

Coach Jaime Kylis composed a brutal non-conference schedule that included contests against perennially-strong Peach Belt and South Atlantic teams. The Trojans endured 13 defeats in a 14-game stretch and started conference play with a doubleheader loss to Erskine.

That 9-19 record is a distant memory.

Mount Olive went 15-5 over its next 20 games and successfully defended its Conference Carolinas tournament title with an 11-3 romp over King (Tenn.) on the Springwood Park diamond in Burlington. The Trojans (24-24 overall) became the first team to win back-to-back tournament championships since Queens University of Charlotte accomplished the feat in 2009-10.

"You never know what's going to happen, that's why you play the game," Eisen said. "Then it all came together. Everybody just got healthy and hot at the right time ... made a great run at the end of the season. It's a great accomplishment for the (athletic) program, a great job by the coaches and the student-athletes.

"We're really proud of them."

Before Eisen arrived in Burlington, he spent the early part of the afternoon watching the men's lacrosse team fall 18-7 to Limestone in the conference tournament final. The No. 3-ranked Saints claimed their sixth straight championship and are expected to receive one of eight at-large bids to the NCAA playoffs.

No AQs are awarded to league champions due to the sport which is geographically stretched into four regions nationwide.

UMO ended the year 13-3 overall.

"We're proud what we're able to accomplish with this being just our second year in the sport," Eisen said. "We just need some time before we can get to that level. We played hard, competed and I'm sure we learned a lot from that game."