MURFREESBORO, N.C. – The Belmont Abbey baseball team closed out the regular season on a strong note with a 16-1 victory over Chowan Saturday at Hawkins Field.
The victory was the ninth in a row for the Crusaders and also completed a three-game sweep over the Hawks.
Belmont Abbey finishes with a 34-15 overall record and 21-8 in Conference Carolinas. Chowan concludes the season at 8-33 overall and 3-27 in the league.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Crusaders got on the scoreboard early thanks to a three-run home run from Ben Ferguson.
- Belmont Abbey added four more runs in the second inning starting with a sacrifice fly by Adam Overcash.
- Ben Gobbel then hit the second three-run home run of the day in the second to make it 7-0 in favor of the Abbey.
- Patrick Taylor had one of his three hits on the day with an RBI single in the third inning to make it 8-0. Both he and Gobbel led the Abbey with three hits each.
- The scoring surge continued in the fourth with Gobbel's second home run of the day, a two-run shot to make it 10-0.
- The Crusaders scored three more in the fifth with a two-run single from Overcash and a sacrifice fly by Kale Rhame.
- Alex Sniffen pitched five scoreless innings to earn the win. He allowed just four hits and struck out four.
- Overcash added a sacrifice fly in the sixth to make it 14-0.
- Chowan scored its lone run in the bottom of the sixth.
- The Crusaders capped off the scoring with a two-run single in the ninth inning.
- Overcash, Sean Johnson, and Zach Aehlert also had multi-hit days as part of the 14 hits recorded by the Crusaders on the day.
- Belmont Abbey finished the regular season with a conference-best 51 home runs in league play. The team had 79 home runs over the course of the regular season.
UP NEXT
- The Crusaders have clinched the No. 3 seed in the Conference Carolinas Tournament that begins May 4 at Fleming Stadium in Wilson, N.C.
- The full tournament bracket will be unveiled later Saturday evening.
