UMO-Ga. College

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on May 13, 2014 1:48 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

MOUNT OLIVE -- Josh Frederick never doubted that he and his University of Mount Olive teammates would return to the postseason.

On- and off-the-field distractions, disconnections among players and a tumble in the national polls left the Trojans reeling until late March.

A series victory over then-No. 23 ranked Erskine ignited a 23-game win streak, a steady rise in the national polls and built some confidence. But Frederick and fellow team captains, Bradon Reitano and Luke Berry, weren't satisfied.

The trio called a team meeting the night before they played a doubleheader at in-state rival Wingate. Despite the team reeling off 10 consecutive victories, the tri-captains felt like their regional resume continued to lack quality "points."

"We talked to the guys about some stuff that was bothering us and bothering the coaches," Frederick said. "We said we've got some people going in different directions and we wanted everyone to pull in the same direction. We told them these were two big regional games and we needed to put some good wins on our resume.

"Since then, everything has turned out well."

Mount Olive (40-11 overall) swept the Bulldogs, including an eight-inning victory in the second game. They rolled through the remainder of their schedule, and swept the Conference Carolinas regular-season and tournament championship for the fifth time in the last six years.

Now, the Trojans get a shot at redemption.

UMO opposes Georgia College in opening-round play of the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional, which begins Thursday in Greenwood, S.C. First pitch is 3 p.m. at Dolny Stadium on the Lander University campus.

The Bobcats won last year's meeting on a walk-off, ninth-inning base hit. The loss denied the Trojans a third trip to the College World Series in program history.

Coker won the regional.

"The fact that we have a chance of putting them one game away from getting kicked out (of the regional), I really want to beat them," Frederick said. "That game was like about half of the games we lost this year. Things are going our way now because we're making them go our way.

"We're not blaming someone else."

Georgia College (34-15) has won five of seven postseason meetings against Mount Olive since 1996. The Trojans are 16-22 all-time in Division II playoff history, including an 11-20 worksheet against the perennially-strong Peach Belt Conference, which has produced two national champions.