DUE WEST, S.C. – The Erskine College baseball team (19-13, 16-8 CC) opened a four-games series with the University of Mount Olive (26-8, 21-5 CC) by splitting a doubleheader on Friday afternoon. An Allan Saathoff complete-game shutout fueled a 9-0 Erskine win in Game 1, and the Trojans responded with a convincing 20-1 win in Game 2.
 
THE ESSENTIALS 
Conf. Carolinas Standings | Stats | Scores
Div. II Scores | Record Book | CC Digital Network
 
THE SERIES
Mount Olive controls the all-time series 38-10 and the teams have split each of the last two doubleheaders in Due West.

HOW IT HAPPENED
GAME 1: Both Allan Saathoff and Trojans' starter Reed Parris exchanged zeroes through the first two innings before Cal Bocchino launched a leadoff blast in the third inning to give Erskine a 1-0 lead. A few batters later Drew Yniesta singled in Dayan Reinoso to double Erskine's lead. After Saatoff worked around a one-out single in the top of the fourth, the Fleet added another run in the bottom half when Bocchino singled back up the middle to plate another run. The Erskine starter issued another a leadoff hit in the fifth, but kept Mount Olive off the board and the Fleet exploded in the bottom of the inning. Dayan Reinoso's two-run big fly extended the Erskine lead to 5-0 and ended Parris' day as the Trojans went to their bullpen. But, the Fleet continued to pour it on. Cody Forster followed by ripping a double and scored on a Trevor Lesane base hit. And then, Tariq Bacon capped the monster inning with a three-run home run as the Fleet opened up a 9-0 lead. And that was more than enough for Saathoff, who struck out a pair of batters in each of the final two innings as part of his season-high nine punch outs en route to a complete game shutout in Game 1.
 
GAME 2: Parker Cassell made his first start of the season in Game 2 and retired the first six batters he faced. But, Cassell ran into trouble in the third inning, but limited the damage to just one run as Mount Olive scored for the first time today on a sacrifice fly. Then, the Trojans got to Cassell in the fourth as each of the first four batters reached base and scored to end Cassell's day as the Trojans took a 5-0 lead. Harry Bernard came in out of the bullpen and settled things down, and the Fleet got on the board in the bottom half of the frame with a Forster run-scoring single. But, Mount Olive continued to score, scratching across at least one run in four of the final five innings, including a seven-spot in the sixth inning to break the game wide open and added five more in the nineth for good measure as they cruised to a 20-1 win in Game 2.

THE PLAYER
GAME 1: Allan Saathoff earned his fourth win of the season with a complete-game shutout performance in the series opener. Saathoff went all seven innings, allowing just four hits and no runs while issuing just one walk and tallying a season-high nine strikeouts.

GAME 2: Cody Forster drove in the only run of the game for the Fleet with an RBI single in the fourth inning of Game 2.

WHAT'S NEXT?
Erskine and Mount Olive wrap up their four-game set with another doubleheader tomorrow, starting at 12:00 p.m.
 
MORE ABOUT THE ERSKINE COLLEGE FLYING FLEET

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