The Belmont Abbey baseball team scored 12 runs on 15 hits and took advantage of seven Barton errors to earn a 12-2 win in the opening game of a three-game Conference Carolinas series. Game two is suspended in the top of the third with the score tied at one. The game will resume Sunday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. with the third game starting after the conclusion of game two.

The Crusaders scored five unanswered runs to start the game, starting with two in the first and three more in the third. In the first, John Cucchiarella was hit by a pitch and moved to second on a single by Roberto Sanchez. Joey Frabasile then reached on an error and moved all the way from third. Cucchiarella scored on the play. Kyle Buchanan then singled home Frabasile to move the lead to 2-0.

In the third the Abbey scored three times on five hits, getting a RBI singles from Frabasile and Tim Dye. Dye's single plated a pair of runs.

Barton scored its runs in the fourth and fifth, plating one in each, to close the lead to 5-3, but the Abbey got one back in its half of the fifth as Chris Vazquez opened with a double, ran to third on a groundout and scored on a single by Matt Mazzolla.

The Bulldogs went down in order in the sixth, and the Abbey added to its lead in the bottom half, scoring twice. Justin Vasquez came home on a bases loaded wild pitch, and Dye singled home Frabasile, who had earlier walked.

In the seventh the advantage rose to 11-2 as Vasquez doubled home Josh Frazier, and Sanchez laced a two-RBI double that brought home Vasquez and Cucchiarella.

The scoring ended the in the eighth on a solo homer by Dye.

Dye led the Crusaders with a four for five day with three RBI. Vasquez, Buchanan, Mazzolla and Sanchez all had two hits.

Steven Thiele moved his record to 4-0 in the win, holding Barton to just two runs on eight hits in seven innings. He struck out four and walked one. Kyle Norville took the loss. He gave up six runs, two earned, on ten hits in four and one-thirds innings. He struck out three. Seven of the Abbey's 12 runs were earned.