BELMONT, N.C. – The Belmont Abbey baseball team continued its strong start to the season with a doubleheader sweep against Shippensburg Saturday at Abbey Yard.
The Crusaders won the first game of the twin bill 12-3 before following that with a 10-5 victory over the Raiders in Game 2.
The Abbey completed a three-game sweep of the Raiders and moved to 4-0 on the season. The Raiders are 0-3.
GAME 1
- The Crusaders broke the game open early by scoring seven runs in the bottom of the first inning.
- The Abbey sent 11 batters to the plate in the inning, highlighted by a bases-clearing double by Sean Johnson.
- Alex Sniffen struck out the first five batters that he faced. He finished with 11 strikeouts and allowed just one hit in five innings.
- Patrick Taylor and Connor Tucker each drove in runs in the second inning.
- Zac Aehlert drove in a run with a single to left field in the bottom of the third inning for the Crusaders to cap off the scoring.
GAME 2
- The Crusaders captured the lead in the bottom of the first inning with a pair of two-run singles from Ben Ferguson and Connor Tucker.
- Up 5-0 entering the bottom of the third inning, Ferguson continued his strong series with a two-home run in the bottom of the third inning to push the lead up to 7-0.
- Grant Lohmeier allowed one run on four innings in his first start of the season for The Abbey.
- Brady Emerson and Johnson drove in a run each in the fifth inning.
- Ben Gobbel finished with four hits in the nightcap, highlighted by an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning.
CRUSADER UPDATE
Three former baseball student-athletes Trey Stone, Collin Andres, and JuJu Cason, from the graduating class of 2020 were honored prior to the first game of Saturday's doubleheader. The trio had their senior seasons canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
UP NEXT
- The Crusaders head on the road for the first time with a pair of contests next week.
- Belmont Abbey takes on Limestone at 5 p.m. Tuesday followed by a contest at Mars Hill at 2 p.m. Wednesday.
