No. 1 seeded University of Mount Olive took an early lead in the opening round of the Conference Carolinas Baseball tournament, but home runs by No. 6 Seed North Greenville sealed the win for the Crusaders 14-8 in Burlington, N.C. Thursday night.
Mount Olive (35-13) took an early lead in the first inning against North Greenville (26-23). Kilgore Gailmard doubled to left center with one away to give the Trojans an early threat. The threat was then capitalized as Jason Morozowski homered to right center and a big swing pushed Mount Olive up two.
Another one out double in the second inning helped to set of Zak Orrison to drive home Brett Lang from second to push the Trojans a head one more.
The Crusaders however did not allow the lead to stand for long. After a lead-off single and a fielder's choice put runners at first and second, Jae Robert lifted a pitch over the left field wall and tied the game at three.
Mount Olive regained the lead in the bottom half of the third as back-to-back doubles brought home th go ahead run. North Greenville used an two RBI-single by Andrew Locklear to move the Crusaders ahead 5-3.
Another North Greenville home run in the fifth moved the visiting nine ahead 8-3. The Trojans fought back in the sixth as a lead-off single by Justin Manning was followed by a two run home run by Joe Koehler. The Trojans pushed one more across on a wild pitch and came a bit closer.
Koehler struck for another RBI base hit in the seventh. North Greenville however, kept the pressure going as two run came in for them in the top of the eighth. The final blow to the Trojans came of another home run from Roberts and North Greenville led 14-8. The Trojans were kept off the bases in the final set of at bats and fell into the loser's bracket of the 2015 Conference Carolinas Baseball Tournament.
Derek Justice (7-3) took the loss for Mount Olive as he gave up all but four runs. He did strike out four.
Ryne Frankoff (4-2) got the win as he went five and a third and allowed seven runs off 10 hits and struck out four as well.
Mount Olive will play in an elimination game tomorrow morning against Belmont Abbey at 11 a.m. in Burlington N.C. the Trojans took one of three from Belmont in the regular season.