No. 4 seed University of Mount Olive defeated No. six seed Pfeiffer University 10-5 to claim the 2016 Conference Carolinas Championship Sunday afternoon in Burlington, N.C. Mount Olive earns an automatic bid to the NCAA DII Southeast Regional.
Mount Olive (29-19) trailed early as Pfeiffer (23-31) took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first.
The Trojans struck back big in the top of the third. Zak Orrison drew a two out base hit up the middle to keep the inning alive. Orrison then stole second and scored on Jack Sherrill's RBI-single past first and the game was tied. Brett Lang singled and moved Sherrill to third on the next play. Stephen Wallace doubled home Sherrill and Mount Olive took the lead.
David Mayo cleared the bases with an RBI-single to center and Wallace and Lang scored to give Mount Olive a 4-1 lead.
The Trojans went on to push two more runs across in the top of the fourth off Sherrill's RBI-single through the right side and the lead extended to five.
Mount Olive maintained the lead, despite allowing single runs in the sixth and seventh innings. Pfeiffer pushed across two more in the bottom of the eighth, but the Trojans countered with two runs of their own and closed out the game in the bottom of the ninth with the final play of the game coming on a double play and Mount Olive won its 13th Conference Carolinas Championship.
Bruce Zimmerman (9-2) took the victory and with it the Tournament Most Valuable Player title as he went eight complete innings. Zimmerman allowed five runs, two earned, off 10 hits and struck out six.
Mount Olive landed four more Trojans on the All-Tournament Team. Zak Orrison, Brandon Day, Brett Lang, and Austin Hutchinson joined Zimmerman on the team. Mount Olive has earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Southeast Regional.