GREENEVILLE, Tenn. -- Belmont Abbey wrapped up the 2024 regular season on Monday with a pair of twice-delayed non-conference games at Tusculum, falling 6-1 and 6-4. The games were originally schedule for February 12 and then April 12, but postponed twice because of weather.
The Crusaders close the regular season at 21-18, while the Pioneers enter postseason play at 29-20.
THE OPENER
- Sage Farmer went 3-for-3 with a walk,
- Five other players also registered a hit -- Hallie Mele, Sydney Pon, Mackenzie Allison, Adison Yoder and Bailey Presley.
- Presley scored the only run of the contest for Belmont Abbey, coming home on a bases-loaded single by Pon in the seventh.
- The Pioneers plated all six of their runs in the fifth.
- Yoder fell to 8-7 on the season, allowing five runs over 4.1 innings. She allowed six hits and walked two.
THE NIGHTCAP
- The Crusaders pounded out 10 hits, including multi-hit games by Mele and Pon.
- Farmer extended her hitting streak to 15 games with a single to left center in the top of the seventh.
- Foster Sharpe, Casey Laing, Ava Elkins, Allison and Presley rounded out the hit parade.
- The Crusaders jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first on RBIÂ singles by Sharpe and Allison followed by a run-scoring double by Presley. After the Pioneers clawed back a run, Pon pushed the lead to 4-1 by driving in Mele.
- But Tusculum scored to in the second and three in the third for the win.
- McKenna Meadors (6-8) took the loss, throwing 2.1 innings.
UP NEXT
- Belmont Abbey is seeded 11th for the Conference Carolinas Tournament and will face No. 6 Lees-McRae in a play-in game on Thursday at noon.
- The Crusaders swept all four games from the Bobcats this year.
- The winner advances to the double-elimination bracket, where it will face No. 3 Mount Olive Thursday night at 7 p.m.
