BELMONT, N.C. – The Erskine College baseball team (22-17, 12-12 CC) concluded a three-game series against Belmont Abbey College (25-14, 15-8 CC) by earning a split of a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at Abbey Yard. The Crusaders scored three times in the seventh inning to win the first game, 4-3, but Erskine bounced back with a convincing 14-7 win in the final game of the series.

THE ESSENTIALS 
Conf. Carolinas Standings | Stats | Scores
Div. II Scores | Record Book | CC Digital Network
 
THE SERIES
The Crusaders hold a slim 35-30 advantage in the all-time series.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Game 1: Belmont Abbey 4-3 Erskine
Armando Becerra launched a leadoff home run to give Erskine a quick 1-0 lead. Belmont Abbey tied the game with a run of their own in the third inning but wild pitches from the Crusaders allowed Joseph Quintana and Becerra to score in the fourth and fifth innings respectively and take a 3-1 lead. Caleb Dix put up a pair of scoreless frames on the mound for the Fleet in the middle innings, but the Crusaders rallied late with a three-run seventh, capped by a walk-off single to give them a 4-3 win.

Game 2: Erskine 14-7 Belmont Abbey
Following a heartbreaking loss to start the day, the Fleet started slow in the final game of the weekend as Belmont Abbey took a 3-0 lead after the first three innings. But, the Erskine offense came roaring to life after that. An RBI double from Dontae Wade opened the scoring for Erskine and began a monster fourth inning from the Fleet at the plate. Wade was followed by RBI singles from five different Erskine players as Ashby Smith, Armando Becerra, Cal Bocchino, Christian Rivera, and Dalton Boyd each drove in a run in a six-run fourth inning. That flipped an early deficit on its head and gave Erskine a 6-3 lead. A Chase Crouch run-scoring single and a solo home run from Christian Rivera answered runs from Belmont Abbey in the middle innings as the Fleet led 8-6 after six innings. Crouch opened the seventh inning with a leadoff double and came around to score on a groundout from Becerra. Then, Christian Rivera launched his second big fly in as many at-bats to extend Erskine's lead to 10-6. Smith added a two-run single later in the frame and the Fleet opened up a commanding 12-6 lead. After a clean bottom of the seventh from Joe Alegre, Rivera added to his big game at the plate with a two-run single as Erskine took the third and final game against the Crusaders by a score of 14-7. Erskine tallied 19 hits in the game with every Fleet starter recording a hit and seven of them posting a multi-hit game in a balanced offensive explosion.

THE PLAYER
Christian Rivera led a monster game three from the Erskine offense, going 4-for-5 with two home runs and five RBIs.

WHAT'S NEXT?
After a seven-game road stretch, Erskine returns home for a mid-week contest against Augusta University (11-23, 4-14 PBC) on Tuesday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. Erskine leads the all-time series 15-9 but the Jaguara have won four of the last five, including a 10-2 win in Augusta back in March 2019.
 
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