Belmont Abbey swept Limestone College in Conference Carolinas baseball action on Sunday afternoon at Bob Prevatte Field. The two teams were originally slated to play two seven-inning games, but the first contest took 10 innings to decide. The Crusaders won game one 7-4, and took game two 6-3. The Abbey improves to 29-14 (15-5 league) as the Saints fall to 20-25 (9-11).

In game one, Limestone got on the board in the first inning. Zach Watkins (Albany, Ga.) hit a lead-off triple. Watkins came home on a sacrifice fly by Josh Izokovic (Shelby, N.C.). Adam McSwain (Fallston, N.C.) got to third after the Belmont Abbey right fielder dropped a fly ball. Drew Lydon (White Plains, Md.) followed up with a double to get McSwain home.

The Crusaders scored their first run in the second on a sacrifice fly by Chris Vazquez (Miami, Fla.) The Abbey tied the score in the fourth off a sacrifice hit by Carlos Vasquez (Palm City, Fla.).

McSwain gave the Saints the go-ahead run when he homered to lead off the fourth inning. David Christy (Greenville, S.C.) hit his first career home run for Limestone's 4-2 lead in the sixth.

Belmont Abbey rallied in the seventh as the Crusaders loaded with bases with no outs. Will Breslin (Daytona Beach, Fla.) batted in Tyler McKenzie (Winston-Salem, N.C.) before being thrown out at first as the Abbey to cut the Saints' lead to one. Seth Waller (Salisbury, N.C.) scored the game-tying run on the next at bat. Limestone got out of the inning as Carlos Vasquez popped up to Saints' shortstop Dylan Anthony. Anthony threw out Alex Castellanos (Miami, Fla.) at first.

With either team unable to score the winning run in the bottom of the seventh, the contest headed to extra innings. In the top of the 10th, Vazquez hit a three-run homer as the Crusaders took the 7-4 win.

The Saints' Clayton Knight (Moncks Corner, S.C.) pitched the first 6 1/3 innings as he recorded 7 strikeouts and gave up 10 hits and 4 runs. He was relieved by Brock White (Gaffney, S.C.). White had three strikeouts in the final 3 2/3 innings and allowed three hits and three earned runs for the loss.

Watkins batted 3-5 for the Saints with one run scored. McSwain hit 2-3 with 1 RBI and 2 runs scored.

Andy Helms (Locust, N.C.) threw three strikeouts in the first six innings for the Abbey and allowed nine hits and three earned runs. Andrew Morton (Lexington, N.C.) came into the game in the seventh and pitched four scoreless innings for the win as he struck out two batters and gave up three hits.

Castellanos batted 4-5 in game one with one RBI and a run scored for Belmont Abbey.

The Crusaders started game two with six runs in the first inning. Phillip Soden (Inman, S.C.) scored for Limestone in the bottom of the inning off a double by Lydon to make the score 6-1. The Saints continued to chip away at Belmont Abbey's lead as Lydon hit a sacrifice fly in the third with the bases loaded to bring Zach Watkins (Albany, Ga.) across home plate. Christy hit an RBI single in the next at bat to put the Saints within three of the visitors. However, Limestone couldn't score another run as Belmont Abbey took the game 6-3.

Limestone's Thomas Fekete (Aiken, S.C.) pitched the first 4 2/3 innings as he took the loss. Fekete allowed 10 hits, 5 earned runs, and walked 5 batters. Jordan Liette (Versailles, Ohio) came into the contest in the fifth and pitched the remaining 2 1/3 innings. He only allowed one hit and struck out two batters.

Michael Raymond (Mount Holly, N.C.) pitched all seven innings for Belmont Abbey. He recorded five strikeouts and gave up six hits.

The Crusaders' Castellanos hit 3-4 with one RBI and one run scored. McConnell batted 2-4 with 1 RBI and 1 run.

Limestone and Belmont Abbey will play a single contest tomorrow at 3 p.m. at Bob Prevatte Field.