Erskine, Mount Olive avoid elimination on day four of Conference Carolinas Baseball Championship
GASTONIA, N.C. – On what was a rainy fourth day of the 2024 Conference Carolinas Baseball Championship, two games were played as second seed Young Harris was eliminated by eighth seed Erskine. Later in the day, third seed Mount Olive came back to defeat top seed North Greenville in another elimination game.
Young Harris took a 2-0 lead with runs in the fourth and fifth innings as Jack Enrico drove in a run in the fourth inning before Kade Smallwood hit a home run in the fifth inning. David Hernandez drove in two in the sixth inning for Erskine to even the score. In the seventh inning, Daniel Hernandez put the Flying Fleet ahead 3-2 with a home run in the seventh inning. Erskine then broke the game open in the ninth with five runs, two each on singles from Carlos Gonzalez and Ben Maskin to take the contest 8-2.
North Greenville manufactured a run to take a 1-0 lead on a Dakota Britt infield single. The Crusaders extended their lead to 3-0 on a David Lewis two-run home run in the fifth inning. Mount Olive rallied in the sixth, taking a 4-3 lead on a single from Dylan Jeffries that scored a pair. The Trojans extended their lead to 6-3 on a bases loaded hit by pitch and ground out in the seventh. David Cucci capped a three-run eighth inning with a two-run single that gave Mount Olive a 9-3 lead. North Greenville scored one run in the eighth, but the Trojans got the final three outs in the ninth to take the contest 9-4.
Due to rain in Gastonia, North Carolina, the UNC Pembroke and Belmont Abbey winners’ bracket final has been moved to Sunday, May 5 with first pitch at 10:00 a.m. at CaroMont Health Park. Erskine and Mount Olive will follow at 2:00 p.m. in an elimination game before the loser of UNC Pembroke and Belmont Abbey will face the winner of Erskine and Mount Olive in another elimination game.
To see the updated bracket for the championship and to learn more, please visit
here.