MOUNT OLIVE, N.C. – Carter Capps tossed eight strong scoreless innings and Dan Hayduk delivered a two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning to lead No. 3 Mount Olive College to a 3-0 victory over Erskine College Friday at Scarborough Field in the opener to their Conference Carolinas baseball series.
Capps scattered seven hits, walked two and struck out eight in improving to 8-0 on the season and 18-0 in his college career.
With the win, the Trojans improved to 29-5 overall and 15-3 in the league. Erskine slipped to 25-15 overall and 9-10 in conference play.
Both teams entered the game ranked among the top seven teams in the country in runs scored, but it was pitching that dominated the contest. Capps gave up an infield single to lead off the game, then didn’t allow another hit until the fifth inning. Mount Olive got runners on base in each of the first three innings, but Erskine starter Zach McAllister (Simpsonville, SC, Hillcrest HS) worked out of trouble each time. Both teams were helped early by their defenses, which turned double plays to end four consecutive half-innings.
Mount Olive finally broke the scoreless tie in the bottom of the fourth. Jason Simone doubled with one out, his second double of the game. Michael Knox, who ranks third in the nation in home runs, proved he could do more than that, taking an outside pitch to the opposite field for a single that scored Simone with the Trojans’ first run.
The Trojans got two hits to lead off the fifth, but stranded them at second and third. Jacob Rogers had one of his four hits, a double, with one out in the sixth, but he too was left on base. McAllister (3-3) left after 4 2/3 innings, having scattered eight hits and striking out four.
For all of Capps’ work, he still only led 1-0, and Erskine finally began to threaten him in the seventh. John Bolding (Pickens, SC, Pickens HS) produced one of his two hits, a one-out single, and Drew Willingham (Hodges, SC, Greenwood HS) followed with a single to help the Flying Fleet put a runner in scoring position for the first time in the game. But Capps got a strikeout and a pop-up to short to end the inning.
Erskine threatened against in the eight after a leadoff single and a two-out infield hit put runners at the corners. But Capps induced a groundball to third to end the scoring chance for the Fleet.
Mount Olive then collected two huge insurance runs in the bottom of the inning. With one out, Jacobs singled down the right-field line, and Hayduk followed by ripping the first pitch he saw from reliever Kit Carter over the fence in left for his third home run of the year.
Bolding singled again to lead off the ninth for Erskine, but Mount Olive reliever David Combs retired the next three batters in order for his first save of the year.
The victory moved Mount Olive a full game ahead of second-place Belmont Abbey in the league standings. The Trojans have the two games left with Erskine beginning at noon on Saturday, while Belmont Abbey begins a three-game set at third-place Limestone on Saturday.
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