Belmont Abbey third baseman Chris Vazquez recorded three home runs and seven RBI, and starting pitcher Steven Thiele tossed a complete-game two hit shutout, striking out 11, as the 20th-ranked Crusaders baseball team earned a 15-0 win at Pfeiffer in the opening game of a three-game Conference Carolinas series. The win moves the Abbey's record to 25-8 overall, 9-2 in league play while the Falcons fall to 13-20, 6-7.

Thiele's 11 strikeouts are a career-high as he moves his record to 6-0. His ERA dropped from 2.70 to 2.24. Meanwhile, Vazquez's big day moved his average up from .330 to .342. Six of the Abbey's 14 hits left the ballpark.

Belmont Abbey started with four in the first started off by an RBI-single from Joey Frabasile. Chris Vazquez later completed the frame with a three-run blast to center for an early 4-0 lead. Pfeiffer tried to respond in their half of the first after leadoff walks by Kevin Price and Jacob Yates but Crusader starter Thiele got a pair of strikeouts and pop up to third retiring the side.

The Crusaders' Matt Mazzolla made it a 5-0 game with a mammoth solo home run with one-out in the top of the fourth. An inning later, a one-out hit-by-pitch to Justin Vazquez and a walk to Frabasile set the table for Kyle Buchanan to belt the second three-run dinger of the day to put the visitors up eight. Vazquez promptly followed with a solo-HR to left, his second of the day for a 9-0 lead. Tim Dye reached on the next offering via hit-by-pitch before Mazzolla crushed his second of the day to straight-away center.

Four more in the ninth for Belmont Abbey ended with Vazquez belting his third home run of the day with a three-run shot to center. Danny Brion had the other RBI with a base hit.

The two hits for Pfeiffer belonged to Preston Lyon in the form of a leadoff double in the fourth and a one-out single by Tyler Smith in the eighth. Lyon's double was the first Pfeiffer hit of the day as Thiele held the Falcons hitless through the first three innings.

Both teams will wrap up their league series with a doubleheader beginning Monday at 12:00 p.m.