UMO baseball advances in Conference Carolinas tournament

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on April 29, 2016 1:49 PM

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UMO Media Relations

BURLINGTON -- Bruce Zimmerman worked seven innings and University of Mount Olive cranked out six extra-base hits during an opening-round, 7-2 victory over Belmont Abbey in the Conference Carolinas baseball tournament Thursday morning.

Heavy rain, accompanied by lightning, suspended the remainder of play for the day. The North Greenville-Barton game resumed at 10 this morning, followed by the Erskine-Pfeiffer contest.

The fourth-seeded Trojans (26-18 overall) are scheduled to play the North Greenville-Barton winner later today.

Zimmerman (8-2) yielded two earned runs on 10 hits. Dario Santangelo notched his third save of the season with two innings of two-hit, three-strikeout relief.

The third-seeded Crusaders (34-12-1) scratched in the bottom half of the first inning on Weston Clarke's RBI single. However, Zimmerman didn't allow another run until Matt McGarry belted a solo homer in the seventh.

McGarry's yard shot closed UMO's advantage to 4-2. Belmont Abbey connected on consecutive singles, which brought the potential go-ahead run to the plate. Zimmerman squelched the rally with an inning-ending strikeout -- one of 10 on the day.

The Trojans plated an insurance run in the eighth.

Ricky Surum smacked a lead-off double, moved to third on Brandon Day's sacrifice and trotted home on Zak Orrison's sacrifice fly. Brett Lang and Stephen Wallace capped the scoring with back-to-back solo home runs in the top of the ninth.

Mayo (two RBI) and Wallace (RBI) combined for four of the Trojans' nine hits. Orrison (RBI), designated hitter Jack Sherrill (RBI), Lang, Joe Koehler and Surum finished with one hit apiece.

Five UMO players earned all-Conference Carolinas accolades. Orrison and Zimmerman received first-team accolades. Lang, Wallace and pitcher Brighton Hudson each drew a second-team nod.