MOUNT OLIVE, N.C. – The King University baseball team split a pair road games against the University of Mount Olive on Sunday. An impressive outing from Tornado pitcher
Drew Moore helped King knock off the No. 3 ranked Trojans and hand them their first loss of the season.
THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: King 3, #3 Mount Olive 2; #3 Mount Olive 9, King 5
LOCATION: Scarborough Field; Mount Olive, N.C.
RECORDS: King 4-7, 3-5 Conference Carolinas; Mount Olive 10-1, 7-1 Conference Carolinas
SERIES HIGHLIGHTS
- Truman Roper led the Tornado with two hits on the day, one of which was a double, to accompany two runs that he drove in as well as the pair of runs that he scored himself.
- Deric Graham also posted two hits on the day, both coming in game one.
- Bennett McCann added a double while also bringing home two runs.
GAME ONE HIGHLIGHTS
- After a scoreless first inning, the Tornado opened the scoring in the top of the second after McCann doubled to center field to drive in Roper and Austin Meyer.
- A Mount Olive fielding error during the next at-bat allowed Deric Graham to reach first while McCann made it home for the third run of the game.
- The Trojans responded in the bottom half of the second. This time it was an error from the Tornado that brought home Mount Olive's Gunner Tolston to get the Trojans on the scoreboard.
- The two teams remained scoreless for the remainder of the game until the bottom of the seventh inning.
- Jack Casbarro roped a solo home run over the left field wall to halve the deficit, but it was ultimately not enough as the Tornado took the 3-2 victory and handed the Trojans their first loss of the 2021 season.
OF RECORD
Winning Pitcher: Drew Moore (1-0) 6.1 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 SO
Losing Pitcher: Caleb Irwin (2-1) 4.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO
Save: Nic Blankenship (2) 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO
GAME TWO HIGHLIGHTS
- The Tornado started off game two by loading the bases. Davis Hall drew a walk to bring home Junior Renwick for the first run of the day's second contest.
- A single through the right side from Roper drove in two runs to extend the Tornado lead to 3-0.
- Mount Olive posted their first run of the game in the bottom of the first following a single from Dusty Baker.
- King extended their lead in the top of the second when Meyer singled to right center to bring home David Carnicella.
- A triple from Mount Olive's Blake McLean was the spark of a three-run inning that tied things up at 4-4 heading into the third.
- Ethan Hawkins helped reestablish King's lead in the top of the third after he singled through the left side to drive in Roper.
- The Trojans tallied three runs in the bottom of the third to take a lead that they never surrendered.
- Tolston homered to left field in the bottom of the sixth and drove in another run in the bottom of the seventh to push the score to 9-5.
- Mount Olive held the Tornado scoreless for the remainder of the day to pick up the victory in game two and ultimately take three out of four over the weekend.
OF RECORD
Winning Pitcher: Seth Houston (1-0) 2.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO
Losing Pitcher: Jake DeLisi (0-1) 4.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO
FOR THE FOES
- Casbarro paced the Trojans with four hits on the day, driving in two runs as well as scoring twice himself.
- McLean and Tolston both poured in three hits on Sunday while also scoring twice and driving two runs in.
- The Tornado took game one by a final score of 3-2 for King's first win over a ranked opponent since 2019. It was also the program's first win over a top-10 team since their victory over Mount Olive in 2013.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- The Tornado took game one by a final score of 3-2 for King's first win over a ranked opponent since 2019. It was also the program's first win over a top-10 team since their victory over Mount Olive in 2013.
UP NEXT
- King returns home on Friday to host Chowan University in a four-game series. First pitch for game one on Friday is slated for 11:30 a.m.
- Mount Olive takes to the road on Wednesday as they travel to Queens University of Charlotte.
