Chris Leduc lifted the University of Mount Olive to an 11-5 opening series win against Southern Wesleyan University Friday afternoon for Conference Carolinas baseball in Central, S.C. The Trojans were able to hold off a late inning rally by Southern Wesleyan. This was also the opening of Conference Carolinas play for Mount Olive.
Mount Olive (9-2 Overall, 1-0 Conference Carolinas) was kept off the boards in the first although the Trojans did not go down in order as Jason Morozowski singled in the inning.
Southern Wesleyan (3-6, 0-1) struck first in the inning as the Warriors were able to get a base runner after a one out hit by pitch. Josh Shimp singled into right field and Jason Moldenhauer came across as the game's first run.
Stephen Wallace scored Justin Manning with a single through the left side and the Trojans tied the game up in the second.
Zak Orrison led off the third with a single into left. Kilgore Gailmard followed up a single to right and moved Orrison up to second. Morozowski reached on an error by the shortstop and the throw allowed Orrison to score and Gailmard to move to third. Manning reached on a fielder's choice, but an error by the third baseman allowed him to take second. On the play both Morozowski and Gailmard came home. Leduc then pushed in his first RBI with a single to right and Manning scored. The four runs put up by Mount Olive in the third was just the start of the afternoon.
Mount Olive shut the door on the Warriors offence and put up runs in the fourth, fifth, and eighth. A sacrifice fly by Gailmard in the fourth and a solo home run by Leduc in the fifth gave the Trojans a 7-1 lead. The lead was padded with two more runs in the eighth. RBI-singles by Morozowski and Rob Shipman put the Trojans ahead by eight.
Southern Wesleyan re-opened the door that the Trojans had shut for six innings as the Warriors looked to comeback. Shimp led off with a single up the middle and advanced to third on another single by Daniel Williams. A walk loaded the bases for the Warriors with no one out. Johnny Ponder on a 2-2 pitch cleared the bases with a grand slam to move the deficit to 9-5.
The Trojans rebounded in the ninth with two runs. Brett Lang drove in a run on a single to left and scored Grant Tyndall. Joe Koehler brought in the final run for Mount Olive with a sacrifice fly to dead center as Lang tagged and scored.
Southern Wesleyan was able to get a base runner but could not mount a comeback in the final frame.
Gunnar Kines (3-0) picked up the win after throwing seven innings and allowed a solo run in the first off six hits. Kines also fanned 11 Southern Wesleyan batters.
Matt Buss (0-2) was on the losing end after going four and two thirds. Buss allowed seven runs, three earned, off nine hits and struck out four.
Mount Olive will finish off the three game series tomorrow with a double header. First pitch of game one is set for 12 p.m.