BELMONT, N.C. – Jason White reached a season-high in strikeouts in his longest start of the season as the Belmont Abbey baseball team earned a 5-2 victory over Barton in a Conference Carolinas game Friday at Abbey Yard.
White struck out nine batters in 8.2 innings while allowing just two runs on four hits and walking just one batter. The Abbey also reached 10 or more hits for the third straight contest in the victory.
Belmont Abbey moved to 17-8 overall and 8-4 in Conference Carolinas play. Barton is now 13-11 and 8-5, respectively.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- White got off to a good start by retiring the first three Barton batters he faced.
- After the Bulldogs took a 2-0 lead in the top of the second inning, Kale Rhame put the Crusaders on the scoreboard in the bottom of the inning with his first home run of the year to make it 2-1.
- Rhame pulled the Crusaders even at 2-2 in the fourth inning with a ground-rule double to drive in Ben Gobbel. Gobbel and Zach Aehlert led the inning off with back-to-back singles.
- Rhame led the Abbey with three hits while Brennan Martin added two hits as well.
- The Abbey took the lead for good two batters later thanks to Connor Tucker's sacrifice fly to bring in Aehlert.
- White kept up his strong performance on the mound by not allowing a hit in between the third and eighth innings.
- The Crusaders got a pair of insurance runs in the seventh inning thanks to a two-run home run from Sean Johnson. It was the fifth home run of the year for Johnson.
- White recorded his season-best ninth strikeout in the ninth inning.
- Avery Short forced a pop-up in his lone batter faced to earn his fourth save of the season.
UP NEXT
The Crusaders close the series with a doubleheader against Barton beginning at 1 p.m. Saturday back at Abbey Yard.
