The Belmont Abbey baseball team closed out its home schedule with a doubleheader split with the visiting Barton Bulldogs and earned the series win combined with yesterday's 15-9 win. The series win moves the Abbey's record to 29-16 overall and 17-7 in Conference Carolinas. Barton is now 15-29 overall and 6-16 in Conference Carolinas.

The Crusaders will be seeded no lower than second in the upcoming Conference Carolinas Tournament. The Abbey closes out the conference schedule next weekend at King.

In game one, the Abbey battled back from a 3-0 hole by scoring two in the fifth and two more in the sixth, and Emilio Pagan shut down the final two out to record his league-leading 12th save.
Barton jumped on Abbey starter Steven Thiele for three runs in the top of the first. Tyler Barrington lined the first pitch of the game down the rightfield line for a double and was sacrificed to third by Chris Rawlings. After Collins Cuthrell grounded out to Thiele, Ryan Daughtry produced the first run with a double to the gap in right center to plate Barrington. Philip Williams then made it 3-0 with a towering homer to right.

From there the pitchers kept the offenses at bay, but not before working out of some jams. In the top of the fifth Barrington smashed a one out double and moved to third on a wild pitch, but a strikeout ended the inning.

The Abbey broke through in the bottom of the inning to cut the Bulldogs lead to one. John Cucchiarella and Kyle Buchanan both opened the inning with walks and moved up one base on a wild pitch. With runners on second and third with nobody out, Gabby Amor ripped a single down the leftfield line, scoring both men to cut the deficit to 3-2. A foul out and a flyout left Amor stranded at first.
Barton again threatened in the sixth, but Thiele worked out the jam without allowing any runs. Williams blasted a one out double and moved to third on an error that allowed Avery Harper to reach first, but Thiele recorded a strikeout and a fly out to center to end the inning.

In the bottom of the frame the Abbey stormed ahead for good. Emilio Pagan reached on a leadoff walk and moved to second on a wild pitch. Dakota Irwin, pinch-hitting for Matt Mazzolla, dribbled a grounder back to pitcher Kyle Norville, who threw to second in an attempt to nab Pagan, who drifted well off the bag. Norville's throw sailed into centerfield, allowing Pagan to race to third on the error. A pair of changes for both teams, Michael Vargas to run for Irwin, and Bentley Massey for Norville came next. Massey's first pitch sailed to the backstop, allowing Pagan to score just ahead of the throw with the tying run.

Bentley then walked Caleb Shore, who moved up one base, along with Vargas to third, on a sacrifice bunt by Ian Vazquez. A strikeout for the second out was next, but Buchanan worked a walk to load the bases for Amor, who recorded the RBI when the 3-2 pitch was low and outside, allowing Vargas to cross as the winning run.
In the top of the seventh Thiele retired leadoff batter Spiers Miller with a groundout to short and left the game to an ovation. Pagan moved from third to the mound, where he ended the game with two pop ups to register his twelfth save of the year.

Thiele picked up the win as he allowed three runs on seven hits in six and one-thirds innings, striking out seven. Norville worked the first five plus innings, allowing four runs on six hits, walking three. Pagan earned the save.

Amor led the Abbey with two hits and three RBI as the Crusaders totaled six hits. Williams was three for three for Barton, falling just a triple short of the cycle as he drove in two runs.
In game two, which was nine innings, the Abbey jumped ahead 2-0 in the bottom of the first as it took advantage of two Barton errors to score twice. Buchanan led off with a single and moved to second on a walk to Amor. Justin Vasquez reached on a fielder's choice that cut down Amor at second, but Buchanan scored on an error after stopping at third to put the Abbey ahead 1-0. Vasquez then scored when a pickoff attempt at first was thrown wildly, allowing him to race home from first to widen the gap to 2-0.

Barton stormed ahead by scoring two in the second and third innings. In the second, Harper doubled home Daughtry, and Harper later scored on a groundout by Matthew Berry to knot the game at two.

One inning later, Barton moved into the lead on a two-RBI single by Daughtry, scoring Barrington and Michael DelSardo.

The Crusaders scratched a run back in the bottom of the fifth to shrink the gap to 4-3 on a leadoff homer by Buchanan, but Barton matched it in the top of the sixth to immediately move its lead back to two on a bases loaded walk to Barrington.

Belmont Abbey again had an answer, scoring twice in the bottom of the frame to deadlock the game at five. Cucchiarella laced a one out single back up the middle and moved to second on a walk to Vazquez. After a fly out, Buchanan drilled a double to the gap in right center, scoring both runners to tie the game at five.

Barton wasted no time regaining its edge, as Williams homered for the second time in the doubleheader, a two out solo shot to right to put the Bulldogs back on top 6-5.

The Crusaders made noise in the bottom of the seventh. Frabasile roped a one out double, followed by a walk to Pagan, but a fly out and a strikeout ended the threat.

Barton added an insurance run in the top of the eighth on a squeeze play. With Barrington at third, he bolted for home and Rawlings protected him with a perfect bunt, allowing Barrington to score the seventh run without a play to widen the lead to 7-5.

In the eighth the Abbey again put two runners on with one out, but could not capitalize as the inning ended with two fly ball outs.

Barton did not score in the ninth, and again the Abbey mustered a late charge. Pagan reached on a fielder's choice that negated Frabasile, who led off with a single, at second. Pagan then stole second, followed by a fly out. Mazzolla then worked a walk to put the tying run on base, but a fly ball to right ended the game.

Brandon Warren earned the win in relief of Williams, who started game three on the mound after playing first base in the first two games of the series. Warren did not allow a run in the final three and one-thirds innings, fanning three and walking three. He scattered three hits. Matt Parish took the loss as he yielded two runs on four hits in an inning and two-thirds, fanning one.

The Crusaders totaled nine hits as Buchanan logged three and three RBI. Frabasile posted three hits.

Harper led Barton with three hits in five at bats. Daughtry, Berry and Williams added two each.

Game One Box

Game Two Box