The Belmont Abbey baseball team erased a 6-4 lead in the bottom of the ninth by scoring three runs, taking advantage of a Wingate error, to earn a thrilling 7-6 come-from-behind win and clinch a season sweep of the Bulldogs this afternoon at Abbey Yard. The Abbey moves to 21-6, while Wingate drops to 19-11.

Down 6-4 heading into the bottom of the ninth, Joshua Karr issued a leadoff walk to Josh Frazier. After a flyout, Roberto Sanchez rolled a grounder to third, but the ball was overthrown, allowing Frazier to score from first and Sanchez to race to third. Joey Frabasile followed with a flyout to center, deep enough to plate Sanchez with the tying run. Back-to-back singles from Kyle Buchanan and Chris Vazquez produced a pitching change, as Steven Vaughan came on to relieve Karr. Vaughan promptly walked Tim Dye to load the bases for Danny Brion, who came on to pinch hit for Matt Mazzolla. Brion drew a walk to allow the winning run to score.

Wingate opened the game with a run in the first on an RBI double by Brian Yeung. The Crusaders surged ahead two innings later as Frazier led off with a single, moved to third on a double by Justin Vasquez and scored on a passed ball. Vasquez moved to third on the passed ball, and he scored on Sanchez's groundout to short to put the Abbey on top 2-1.

The Bulldogs responded by scoring five unanswered runs, getting two in the fourth on a two-RBI double from Dodson McPherson. One inning later, the Wingate lead grew to 6-2 on a three run homer by Taylor Honeycutt, but it would not score again.

Belmont Abbey began its comeback in the sixth, as Dye doubled home Vazquez, who had doubled earlier, to cut the Wingate lead in half at 6-3. In the eighth, the deficit shrunk to 6-4 as Frabasile bolted home on a single to center by Mazzolla.

The Abbey finished with 12 hits as Vazquez finished 4-5 with a run scored. Vasquez collected three hits in four at bats. Wingate recorded 11 hits as Cody Shelton led the Bulldogs with three hits. McPherson and Yeung both had two hits.

Wingate was undone by four errors in the field, as the five Bulldogs pitchers gave up seven runs, only three of which were earned. The Crusaders were error-free in the field. Karr took the loss after allowing the winning runs to score on two hits in two-thirds of an inning. He gave up three runs, only one earned, and walked one. Jordan Cudney, the sixth and last Abbey hurler of the afternoon, picked up the win. He did not allow a hit or a run in the final inning and a third.