With the wind blowing out of Abbey Yard, Belmont Abbey and Wingate combined for 24 runs on 32 hits, with seven of those going for home runs, as the Abbey outlasted the Bulldogs 14-10 this afternoon in a non-conference matchup. The Abbey, winners of ten of its last 12, including four straight, improve to 24-18, while Wingate falls to 18-23.

Evan Jonas, the second of four Crusader pitchers, earned the win after holding Wingate to a pair of runs on five hits in two and one-thirds innings, striking out two and walking two. Drew Hardee and Zach Horne combined to hold Wingate scoreless in the final two innings. Ed Cook took the loss for Wingate after yielding six runs on seven hits in four innings of relief, striking out two and walking two.

After a scoreless first inning, Wingate jumped ahead 4-0 in the top of the second on a two-RBI single by Dustin Hurdle and a two-run homer by Casey Allison. The Abbey got one back in the bottom of the inning on a leadoff homer by Danny Brion, the first of his two round-trippers of the afternoon.

Wingate extended its lead to 6-1 with two runs in the third, but the Abbey responded by plating five runs in its half, using RBI doubles by Brion, Justin Vasquez and Spencer Sobol, and an infield single by Josh Frazier that brought home Brion for the tying run, allowing the Crusaders to knot the game at six.

The Bulldogs would score single runs in each of the next four innings, but the Crusaders responded with three in the fourth and fifth innings, getting a solo homer by Roland Rodriguez and a two-run homer by Vasquez in the fourth. In the fifth, Rodriguez brought home Brion with a bases loaded sacrifice fly, followed by a two-RBI single by Tyler McKenzie.

Wingate scored its final run in the seventh to close within two of the Abbey's lead at 12-10, but the Crusaders got some breathing room in the eighth with a two run blast by Brion to provide the winning margin.

Belmont Abbey finished with 15 hits as Brion finished 4-5 with four runs batted in and four runs scored. Daniel Kassouf banged out three hits. Vasquez drove in three runs.

Wingate had 17 hits as Joshua Karr finished 3-4, while Hurdle went 2-4 with three runs batted in. Allison also drove in three runs.