Belmont Abbey freshman Tyler Powell scattered five hits over eight scoreless innings and rightfielder Seth Waller ripped a two-out, two RBI single as part of a three run seventh inning as the Crusaders improved to 34-17 with a 4-0 win over the second-seeded Erskine Flying Fleet in a winners bracket game of the 2008 Conference Carolinas Tournament.

Powell improved to 5-4 as he struck out two and allowed just five hits, all singles, and did not walk a batter in eight innings. Andrew Morton allowed two hits in the ninth but did not allow a run to preserve the shutout. Mike Moore took the loss after giving up one run on one hit in five innings. He struck out three but walked five as he suffered his first loss of the season.

Powell faced the minimum through three innings and didn't give more than one hit in an inning, and the Crusader offense gave him the only run he would need in the fifth as Patrick Atwell drew a one out walk, moved to second when Alex Castellanos was hit by a pitch, and scored on Tyler McKenzie's opposite field single to rightfield for a 1-0 Abbey lead.

Two innings later, the Crusaders pushed their lead to 4-0 after scoring three times. Elio Rey led off reaching on an error, moved to second on a single to left center by Atwell, and scored on Will Breslin's double down the rightfield line to push the lead to 2-0. After an intentional walk to Castellanos and back-to-back strikeouts, Waller drilled a single to right, scoring Atwell and Breslin easily to widen the lead to 4-0, which was the final.

The Abbey finished with five hits as Waller led the way with two. He also drove in four runs. McKenzie and Breslin drove in the other two.

The Crusaders stay in the winners bracket and will be back in action Saturday afternoon at 1:00 when they will face the winner of the Mount Olive/Anderson contest.