Friday Provides More Fireworks at 2021 Baseball Championship
Bracket Entering Saturday (LINK)
WILSON, N.C. - In a day that turned to night and then into the early morning, day three of the 2021 Conference Carolinas Baseball Championship at Fleming Stadium finished up with drama and excitement.
#5 Barton battled to remain the only unbeaten team in the championship. The winner between #1 Mount Olive and #3 Erskine that takes place at 3:30 p.m. will face Barton at 7 p.m. on Saturday.
#2 North Greenville will square off with #4 Belmont Abbey at 12 p.m.
Learn more about the 2021 Conference Carolinas Baseball Championship
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DOUBLE ELIMINATION GAMES
#2 North Greenville 21, #7 King 8 (Box Score)
North Greenville's bats came alive to start the day with the Crusaders blasting six home runs on their way to a 21-8 rout of King in a true elimination game.
Evan Stringer and Pat Monteith delivered the opening shots of the game with a pair of home runs in a six-run first inning for North Greenville.
King rallied in the bottom of the fifth inning to cut the deficit in half, 10-5, as Harry Barger hit a three-run homer in the inning.
John Michael Faile added a home run before NGU went back-to-back in the seventh inning as Pat Monteith hit his second of the game.
Corey Bivins continued the scoring in the top of the ninth with a grand slam for the Crusaders.
Bennett McCann hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning as King could not muster a comeback in their final at-bat.
#5 Barton 11, #3 Erskine 10 (Box Score)
Barton opened an early 10-1 lead after three innings as Brayden Olson hit a three-run home run.
Erskine rallied back in the top of the fourth inning, recording seven runs on six hits to close the gap to 10-8.
Barton's Michael Yuille kept Erskine batters off balance in relief until the top of the seventh as Cody Forster hit a solo home run. The Flying Fleet continued to chip away with a run in the eighth.
Colby Warren came in to pick up the save in the ninth to advance Barton in the winners' bracket.
#4 Belmont Abbey 4, #1 Mount Olive 3 - 10 innings (Box Score)
Mason Dodd took the first pitch he saw in the bottom of the 10th inning over the right field fence to keep Belmont Abbey's season alive with a walk-off home run.
Belmont Abbey first took advantage of a Mount Olive miscue in the top of the first inning to plate a pair.
Joe Mason and Gunner Tolston put the Trojans on the board in the fifth inning with a pair of home runs after a pitchers' duel kept Mount Olive off the board for the opening four innings.
Dodd had originally tied the game in the bottom of the sixth inning, 3-3, on a solo home run.