Belmont Abbey, UNC Pembroke advance to Conference Carolinas Baseball Championship semifinal
GASTONIA, N.C. – The third day of the 2024 Conference Carolinas Baseball Championship starting with an extra innings win from top seed North Greenville and concluded with a run-rule win from Belmont Abbey.
Top seed North Greenville and fifth seed Emmanuel got Friday off to an exciting start with a 10-inning contest. The Crusaders jumped ahead with five runs in the first inning, but Emmanuel came back with seven runs in the second inning to take a 7-5 lead. David Lewis hit a two-run home run in the first for North Greenville while Brock Wollin laced a three-run home run in the second for Emmanuel.
North Greenville came back and evened the score at 7-7 with two runs in the third and took a 9-7 lead with a pair of runs in the fifth inning. The Emmanuel deficit grew to 10-7 before Emmanuel plated a pair in the sixth. Wollin then came up with a two-out single that scored Bailey Stroud in the eighth, evening the score at 10. The score remained the same until the 10th with North Greenville plating three runs, two on a Lewis single, giving the Crusaders the 13-10 win. Bryce Roddey hit for the cycle as he registered a single, double, triple and home run. He drove in three and scored three runs on those four hits.
Second seed Young Harris avoided elimination, defeating sixth seed Barton 10-1 on Friday afternoon. The Mountain Lions took a 1-0 lead in the first inning and added single runs in the fourth and fifth innings on a pair of sacrifice flies before Barton plated a run in the sixth to pull within 3-1. Young Harris tacked on two runs in the seventh and added two more on back-to-back home runs from Jeremy Begora and Jack Enrico in the eighth. The Mountain Lions added three runs in the ninth to take the game 10-1.
Fourth seed UNC Pembroke got off to a hot start against eighth seed Erskine, scoring eight runs in the first three innings, including two in the first inning on a Michael Dolberry Jr. home run. Joey Rezek drove in two with a double in the second before an Andrew Jenner two-run home run highlighted a four-run fourth inning. Erskine scored runs in the third, eighth and ninth innings, but it wasn’t enough as UNC Pembroke took the contest 9-3.
Seventh seed Belmont Abbey took the lead early against third seed Mount Olive with a pair of runs in the first two innings. The Crusaders broke the game open with six runs in the third, including a grand slam from Garrett Browder. Belmont Abbey added a run in the fourth to take an 11-1 lead. Justin Herrera ripped a two-run home run in a four-run fifth inning to stretch the Belmont Abbey lead to 15-1. Mount Olive, however, came back with three runs in the sixth, two on a Gordan Pihl single to pull the Trojans within 15-4. Belmont Abbey then got the final three outs to take the contest 15-4.
North Greenville will face Mount Olive in an elimination game at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 3 at Sims Legion Park. Young Harris will take on Erskine in another elimination game at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday at CaroMont Health Park. The winner of those two games will meet at 8:00 p.m. at CaroMont Health Park on Saturday.
UNC Pembroke and Belmont Abbey advance to the semifinal contest at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday at CaroMont Health Park.
To see the updated bracket for the championship and to learn more, please visit
here.