BELMONT, NC- The Belmont Abbey baseball team banged out 35 hits in two games as it swept Concord College 21-4 and 16-8 in a college baseball doubleheader at the Abbey Yard this afternoon. The two victories improve the Crusaders record to 5-1, while the Mountain Lions fall to 0-2.

In the first game, freshman second baseman Alex Castellanos led the 19 hit attack, going 3-4 with seven runs batted in and three runs scored. He clubbed a three-run homer in the first and followed that with a grand slam and a single in the second inning, part of a 12 run Abbey frame.

Concord jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first, but the Crusaders exploded for six runs in their half of the inning, and after the Mountain Lions pushed one more across in the second, the Abbey broke the contest wide open with the 12-run second inning. The Abbey added one more in the fourth on a solo homer by junior first baseman Will Breslin, and two more in the sixth on a two-run shot by senior rightfielder Alex Udwari.

Andy Helms improved to 2-0 in the win, as he allowed four runs, three earned, on six hits in six innings of work. He fanned six and walked one. Drew McClanahan was charged with the loss. He yielded 11 runs, all earned, on 12 hits in one and a thirds innings.

The second game was much like the first, with the Mountain Lions bolting out to a 3-0 lead after the first, but the Abbey matched it in its half of the second, using a two-run homer by Seth Waller and an RBI single by catcher Kyle Smith that plated Castellanos. The Crusaders extended its lead to 6-3 after scoring three more in the third, getting a two-run homer from Udwari and a solo shot from Breslin in back-to-back at bats.

Concord regained the lead in the fourth when it scored five times, but Belmont Abbey exploded for nine runs in its half of the inning as it sent 13 men to the plate. The Crusaders banged out eight hits in the frame and scored all nine of its runs with two outs as six players drove in at least one run. Waller closed the scoring in the sixth with his second homer of the day, a shot off the scoreboard in left center to provide the winning margin.

Brett DiPisquale earned his first win of the year in a relief effort. The third of four Crusaders hurlers, DiPisquale did not allow a hit or a run while striking out two in an inning and a third. He is now 1-0. Thomas Ayscue fell to 0-1 after allowing five runs on three hits in an inning and a third.