Conference Carolinas drops three games in NCAA Division II Baseball Regionals
NORTH GREENVILLE REGIONAL PAGE | CATAWBA REGIONAL PAGE
GREENVILLE, S.C. – Three Conference Carolinas baseball teams were in action on Friday in the NCAA Division II Southeast Regionals, but all three dropped contests.
In the first game at the North Greenville regional, the host and second-seeded Crusaders fell to sixth seed Wingate 11-10. Wingate took a 4-1 lead after the first inning following a pair of home runs and led 8-1 before North Greenville came back. North Greenville scored six runs in the seventh inning, including a grand slam from Pat Monteith and a Kaleb Hall home run pulled the Crusaders within 8-7. However, the Bulldogs scored a pair in the bottom of the inning to extend their lead to 10-7. Following two North Greenville runs in the eighth, Wingate scored one in the bottom of the inning to take a 11-9 lead. That run proved to be big as North Greenville scored a run in the ninth, but the Bulldogs ended the game with two runners on to take the contest 11-10 and end North Greenville’s season.
In the second contests in Tigerville, seventh seed Georgia College and State University scored multiple runs in each of the first four innings against third seed Mount Olive. The Bobcats scored three runs on a home run in the first, added two runs in the second and four more in the third. Georgia College took an 11-0 lead in the fourth following another home run. Mount Olive got on the board with a pair of two-run home runs in the sixth, one from Dylan Jeffries and another from Anthony Mitta to pull within 11-4. Matthew Mebane then hit his third home run of the night for Georgia College in the eighth, giving the Bobcats a 14-4 lead. Mount Olive scored a run in the ninth, but the Bobcats took the contest 14-5.
In the only game of the day at the other regional, fourth seed UNC Pembroke fell to top seed and host Catawba 5-4 on a pair of late runs. Catawba took an early lead with two runs in the first inning, but the Braves fought back to take a lead with runs in the fourth and fifth innings. Kody O’Connor hit a home run in the fourth inning before a two-run home run from Ashton Donathan gave UNC Pembroke a 3-2 in the fifth inning. Catawba evened the score in the seventh with a run, but a Michael Dolberry II home run in the eight gave UNC Pembroke a 4-3 lead. However, Catawba scored a pair of runs in the eighth to take the contest 5-4.
Mount Olive takes on Wingate in an elimination game at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday. The winner will then face Georgia College at 4:00 p.m. In the other regional, UNC Pembroke takes on Young Harris in an elimination game at 12:00 p.m. with the winner to face Catawba for the regional title at 3:45 p.m.