Two Conference Carolinas baseball teams have their seasons come to an end in NCAA Regional finals
NORTH GREENVILLE REGIONAL PAGE | CATAWBA REGIONAL PAGE
GREENVILLE, S.C. – Three Conference Carolinas baseball teams started the day in an NCAA Southeast Regional semifinal with two advancing to the regional final contests. However, Young Harris and Mount Olive fell in the title contests.
In the North Greenville regional, third seed, Mount Olive came back to sneak past sixth seed Wingate 3-2. The Bulldogs took a 1-0 lead in the second inning, but Mount Olive came back with a sacrifice fly to even the score in the fifth. Mount Olive took the lead in the seventh inning as Dylan Jeffries and Alden Cottle drove in runs. Wingate pulled within one with a leadoff home run in the ninth and put runners on the corners with one out. However, Andrew Ledbetter came in and got the final two outs to give the Trojans the 3-2 win.
The win advanced Mount Olive to take on seventh-seeded and undefeated Georgia College and State University. Cottle gave Mount Olive a 1-0 lead with a sacrifice fly in the first inning. Following a Bobcat sacrifice fly that evened the score in the second inning, the Trojans regained the lead on a groundout from Jeffries. Georgia College came back to even the score with a home run in the third and take a 4-2 lead with a pair of runs in the fourth. Case Kermode laced a leadoff home run in the ninth before a pair of two-out singles put runners on the corners. However, The Bobcats got a flyout to take the 4-3 victory and the regional title.
In the opening contest of the day at the Catawba regional, fifth seed Young Harris used a big first inning to defeat Conference Carolinas foe UNC Pembroke 9-7. A Jeremy Begora two-run highlighted a five-run first inning for Young Harris. Will Hood ripped a home run in the third inning to get UNC Pembroke on the board, but Jace Wilson drove in a run with a double in the bottom of the inning to extend the Mountain Lion lead to 6-1.
UNC Pembroke chipped away with three runs in the fourth, two another Hood home run. Begora ripped a two-run home run in the fourth and drove in another in the fifth to give Young Harris a 9-4 advantage. Hood drove in a run in the sixth for the Braves before Joey Rezek ripped a two-run home run in the ninth. However, Young Harris got the final two outs to take the contest 9-7.
With the win, Young Harris advanced to take on top seed and host Catawba in a winner-take-all championship contest. The Indians scored two runs in each of the first three innings, and Young Harris answered in each frame. A double and sacrifice fly accounted for the runs in the top of the first for Catawba before a Begora double plated one Young Harris run in the bottom of the frame. The Catawba lead grew to 4-1 with a run-scoring double and single in the second inning. In the bottom of the inning, Marco Colina ripped a two-run home run to pull the Mountain Lions within 4-3.
Catawba took a 6-3 lead following back-to-back run-scoring singles in the third before Jack Enrico lifted a home run to cut the Young Harris deficit to 6-4 after three innings. Young Harris threatened in the fifth, eighth and ninth innings, but couldn’t get a key hit to push any runs across as Catawba took the contest 6-4.