DUE WEST, S.C.-Senior All-American closer Atlee Pearson was victimized by three consecutive errors as Barton loaded the bases in the top of the ninth but he was able preserve a 5-4 Conference Carolinas victory for host Erskine Friday by inducing a game-ending groundout.
Pearson recorded his third save of the season for the Flying Fleet (17-5 Overall, 3-4 Conf.), who will host two more games against the Bulldogs (7-15, 0-5) on Saturday starting at Noon.
Erskine senior starter Andrew Guest (4-0) recorded his fourth win of the season going 7 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on six hits, while striking out a pair. All four Barton runs against Guest and Pearson were unearned.
Barton junior starter Bentley Massey (Wilson, N.C.) was tagged with the loss for the Bulldogs. Massey (2-3) fanned a game-high eight batters but he gave up five runs (three earned) over seven innings of work. The right-handed hurler is nearly averaging one strikeout per inning with 29 K's over 30 1/3 innings.
Freshman second baseman Collins Cuthrell (Rocky Mount, N.C.) led BC going 2-for-4. Cuthrell supplied a two-run double in the second that gave the Royal Blue and White an early 2-0 lead.
Erskine knotted the score in the top of the third on a two-run triple by senior John Bolding before taking the lead for good on an unearned run in the fourth. A solo home run by freshman Will Huff doubled the Fleet advantage in the sixth before another unearned run later in the frame increased Erskine's lead to 5-2.
Huff's sixth long ball of the season was the Flying Fleets only dinger of the game. Erskine has hit 40 home runs in its first 22 games.
Barton made things interesting in the ninth, started by singles off the bats of senior Jordan Smith (Longmont, Colo.) and Cuthrell. Back-to-back-to-back Erskine errors closed the Bulldog deficit to one before Pearson escaped the bases-loaded jam with the bouncer back to himself.
Junior Ryan Daughtry (Princeton, N.C.) was 2-for-3 with a pair of walks but his only out was his game-ending grounder to Pearson. Daughtry leads BC with a .397 batting average.
Both teams had eight hits but Barton left eight runners on base.
