The Belmont Abbey baseball team came away with two victories today as it swept a doubleheader against St. Andrews with scores of 8-1 in the first game and 13-4 in the second. The Abbey improves to 14-7 overall and 6-2 in Conference Carolinas, while St. Andrews falls to 5-12 overall and 0-5 in Conference Carolinas.

In the first contest the Crusaders struck first in the bottom half of the second. Dan Brion singled with one out and advanced to second as Kyle Buchanan was hit with a pitch. Caleb Shore drew a base on balls to load the bases. Another walk by John Cucchiarella forced in Brion to give the Abbey a 1-0 advantage. A sacrifice fly by Ian Vazquez made the score 2-0 in favor of the Crusaders.

The Abbey scored again in the bottom of the third. Emilio Pagan singled with one out and scored as Joey Frabasile followed with a two run homer to increase the advantage to 4-0.

The Crusaders pushed another run across in the bottom of the fourth. Cucchiarella walked with one out and advanced to third on Vazquez's single. Vazquez stole second and Gabby Amor walked to load the bases. After a St. Andrews pitching change Justin Vasquez walked to force in Cucchiarella and increase the Abbey lead to 5-0.

Another Crusader run in the bottom of the sixth gave them a 6-0 advantage. Vazquez led off the inning with a walk and stole second. He advanced to second as Amor grounded out to first. Vasquez followed with a groundout to the pitcher that plated Vazquez.

St. Andrews finally got on the board in the top of the seventh. Matt McCue reached on an error and advanced to third on Matthew Beauchemin's single. Kyle Schade's single plated McCue to make the score 6-1.

The Abbey closed out the scoring in the bottom half of the eighth. Shore led off with a single, but was caught stealing second for the first out. Cucchiarella followed with a strikeout. With two outs Vazquez was hit with a pitch and successfully stole second and third. Amor followed with a walk and stole second. Vasquez reached on an error to plate both Vazquez and Amor and seal the 8-1 win for the Crusaders.

Frabasile went 1-4 at the plate with a home run and two RBI. Vazquez went 1-1 at the plate with an RBI and two walks while stealing five bases. Vasquez went 0-4 at the plate, but was productive as he had two RBI. Steven Thiele earned the win as he pitched a complete game giving up only one unearned run while striking out six.

Schade went 2-3 with an RBI to lead St. Andrews. Beauchemin went 2-4 at the plate. Travis Holland suffered the loss after going three and one-thirds innings, allowing five runs while walking five.

In the second game the Crusaders got on the board first in the bottom half of the second taking a 2-0 advantage. Frabasile lead off with a double and scored as Stephen Mullis followed with a double. Kyle Buchanan bunted for a single that allowed Mullis to score as the throw was errant.

St. Andrews answered with a pair of runs in the top of the third to tie the score at two. McCue walked with one out and advanced to third on Beauchemin's double. After Sebastian Ray was hit with a pitch to load the bases, Michael Durig singled to plate both McCue and Beauchemin.

The Abbey responded in the top half of the third inning with a nine run explosion to regain an 11-2 lead. Amor lead off with a single and advanced to second on Vasquez's walk. After Pagan struck out swinging Frabasile singled to score Amor and advance Vasquez to third. Mullis was hit with a pitch to load the bases. An error cleared the bases and allowed Buchanan to reach third base. Shore followed with a single to score Buchanan and advanced to second on a passed ball. Michael Vargas drew a base on balls and made it to second on a stolen base. That was followed with a walk to load the bases once again. After a St. Andrews pitching change Amor was hit with a pitch to force in Shore. A sacrifice fly by Vasquez plated another run as Vargas scored. Pagan doubled to score Amor and Vazquez for the eighth and ninth runs of the inning.

St. Andrews pushed across a run in the top of the fourth to cut the deficit to 11-3. Tyler Jordan singled to lead off the inning and advanced to second on Richard Campolong's single. McCue followed with another single to bring home Jordan.

The Crusaders scored again in the fifth inning. Amor reached on an error by Ray and advanced to second on a wild pitch. After Pagan struck out Amor scored on an error that also allowed Frabasile to reach second. Jon Pilla pinch hit for Buchanan and doubled to score Frabasile and make the score 13-3 in favor of the Abbey.

St. Andrews added a run in the top of the seventh. TJ Werner walked with two outs and advanced to third as Ethan Powell reached on an error. Tyler Bostick singled to score T.J. Werner and make the final score 13-4 Crusaders.

Buchanan led the Abbey as he went 2-3 at the plate with two RBI and a run scored. Amor and Frabasile were each 2-4 with an RBI and three runs scored. Pagan was 1-4 with two RBI. Nate Cudney picked up the win pitching five innings and allowing three runs while striking out six.

Durig was the top performer for St. Andrews going 2-3 with two RBIs. McCue went 1-2 with an RBI and a run scored. Ryan Pierce was saddled with the loss as he pitched two and a third innings and gave up eight runs, four earned, while striking out two.

Game One Box
Game Two Box