WILSON, N.C.-Junior Ryan Daughtry and freshman David Gibbons each went 3-for-7 for host Barton College but No. 2 nationally ranked Mount Olive College did not allow a run en route to a 6-0 and 5-0 doubleheader sweep Friday afternoon at Nixon Field.
The Trojans, who are ranked second overall by both the ABCA and NCBWA, have won 10 straight games. The Bulldogs had a five-game conference win streak snapped.
Barton (12-19 Overall, 5-7 Conf.) will entertain Mount Olive (26-3, 12-1) in the series finale on Saturday at 11 a.m.
Senior Curtis Hudson (Elgin, Ill.) and sophomore Carter Capps (Kinston, N.C.) both tossed complete-game shutouts for the visitors. Senior Joseph Westbrook (Edenton, N.C.) paced the Trojans offensively with a pair of hits in each game.
The first game started as a pitcher's duel between a pair of southpaws in Hudson and Barton sophomore Kyle Norville (Tarboro, N.C.) before Mount Olive pulled away late.
After four scoreless innings, Westbrook put the Trojans on the board with a solo home run off the scoreboard behind the left field fence in the fifth. MOC added five insurance runs in the seventh that was highlighted by a bases-clearing, three-run double by senior Ryan Faison (Oldsmar, Fla.).
Barton had several chances to score with runners in scoring position in five of the first six innings but the Bulldogs were held without a clutch hit as BC stranded a total of 10 runners on base. Hudson got out of the early jams before finishing off the 135-pitch, complete-game without allowing a hit in the final three frames. Hudson (5-0) scattered seven hits and recorded seven strikeouts.
Norville (3-3) gave up six runs on nine hits over 6 2/3 and had two strikeouts. Daughtry (Princeton, N.C.) and Gibbons (Wilson, N.C.) each had a pair of hits in the opener.
Senior Jordan Smith (Longmont, Colo.) ripped a double in the first inning to extend his team-best hit streak to 11 games but the left fielder went 0-for-2 with a hit-by-pitch in the second game to end the consecutive game hit barrage.
Capps – Baseball America's preseason Division II Pitcher of the Year and No. 1 MLB Prospect in DII – continued his unblemished collegiate career with a shutout in the nightcap. Capps (6-0) fourth complete game of the season featured six strikeouts and just five hits over seven innings. The right-handed flamethrower touched 96 several times Friday and kept control without issuing a walk.
Senior Matt Willis (Wilmington, N.C.) had a seven-game hit streak end in the first game but had two of the Bulldogs five hits against Capps with a pair of infield singles. Sophomore Zac Crumpler (Wilson, N.C.) had Barton's only extra base hit with a double down the right field line in the fourth.
Senior starter Hunter Meekins (Manteo, N.C.) pitched well enough to get a win in his third consecutive complete game but the lack of run support cost him a third straight victory. Meekins allowed three earned runs on 12 hits over seven innings and fanned three Trojans.
