MURFREESBORO, N.C. – The Belmont Abbey baseball team extended its season-best winning streak to eight games with a doubleheader sweep against Chowan Friday at Hawkins Field. It is the final regular season series of the season for both teams.
The Crusaders took the first game over the Hawks 9-1 and followed that with a 5-2 win in a contest that was seven innings.
Belmont Abbey moved to 33-15 overall and 20-8 in the Conference Carolinas standings. Chowan is now 8-32 and 3-26 in the league.
GAME 1
- Belmont Abbey got on the board in the second inning thanks to a single from Zach Aehlert to bring in Ben Gobbel.
- Sean Johnson hit one of three home runs of the game for the Crusaders with a solo home run in the third inning.
- Aehlert extended The Abbey lead to 4-0 with a two-run home run in the fourth.
- Chowan added a run in the bottom of the fifth but the Crusaders pulled back ahead 5-1 in the sixth thanks to an RBI double from Gobbel.
- Kale Rhame put the game out of reach with a three-run home run in the eighth and capped off the scoring with an additional run in the ninth off a wild pitch.
- Gobbel led the Crusaders with three hits.
- Jason White earned the win with a strong start. He allowed just one run on seven hits and nine strikeouts, matching a season-high.
GAME 2
- The Crusaders and Hawks were scoreless in the first two innings before Belmont Abbey broke through with a four-run third inning.
- The scoring started with an RBI single from Rhame and followed up with a three-run home run by Aehlert. It was the second home run of the day for Aehlert.
- Connor Tucker added a triple in the next at-bat.
- A sacrifice fly by Sean Johnson in the fourth inning extended the Belmont Abbey lead to 5-0.
- Avery Short moved to 5-0 on the season with a strong start over six innings. He allowed five hits and two runs and struck out five in the win.
- Evan Campbell pitched a scoreless ninth inning to record his second save of the season.
UP NEXT
- The two teams close the regular season with a final game beginning at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Hawkins Field.
- Belmont Abbey will prepare for the Conference Carolinas Tournament the following week in Wilson, N.C.