No. 4 Mount Olive Falls to Barton 8-5 In Series Opener

MOUNT OLIVE, N.C. --- No. 4 University of Mount Olive Trojans fell to arch-rival Barton College 8-5 in the series opener Friday afternoon at Scarborough Field in Mount Olive, N.C.

GAME INFORMATION
Score: 
Barton 8, Mount Olive 5

Records: Mount Olive (13-3, 5-1) Barton (16-8, 4-3)
Location: Scarborough Field, Mount Olive, N.C.

How It Happened
Play-by-Play

GAME RUNDOWN

• Game one of the series took some time before it saw any runs scored as Mount Olive did not scratch across a run until the bottom of the second.
• Two one-out walks two Aaron Hedgepeth and Zack Smith led to Blake McLean singling to right to load the bases for the Trojans to put Barton in its first real pressure spot of the day.
• Jon Cosme hit into a fielder's choice and scored the first run picking up an RBi and giving UMO the 1-0 lead.
• No runs were scored in the third inning but the Bulldogs were able to tie the game on a sacrifice fly by Colby Warren.
• The big blow came in the fifth inning when Barton pushed across four runs off two hits and a costly Trojan error to lead-off the inning and took a 5-1 lead.
• UMO fought back in the bottom of the sixth as with two away Joe Mason drew a walk to give JT Stone a chance to hit and that proved to be the ticket the Trojans needed as he went deep to right and brought the score to with two, 5-3. 
• Barton added a run in the eighth off a solo home run and pushed their advantage to three.
• In the bottom of the eighth, it was a similar case for the duo of Mason and Stone as Mason got on base and one pitch later Stone homered to almost the identical spot in right field sending both of them home drawing the deficit to 6-5.
• The Bulldogs added two insurance runs in the top of the ninth and Mount Olive looked to try and strike for a comeback in the final frame.
• Justin Lee came into pinch hit and drew a walk to lead off the inning and following two flyouts moved into scoring position following a balk. The Trojans were down to their final out and were unable to find the spark needed to complete the comeback and fell 8-5.

KEY STATS

• Reed Parris (5-1) was pinned with the loss going six and a third allowing one earned run, off four hits and struck out seven.
• JT Stone led the team with three RBI and two walks going 3-for-3 at the dish.

Up Next

Mount Olive will complete the three-game series with Barton tomorrow with a doubleheader at Scarborough Field. First pitch on Saturday is scheduled for 11 a.m.