WILSON, N.C.-Junior designated hitter Michael Knox drove in four runs with two home runs and a double to lead top seeded and No. 3 nationally ranked Mount Olive College to a 10-4 victory over No. 6 seed Barton College in the final game on the first day of the 2011 Conference Carolinas Tournament at historic Fleming Stadium Thursday night.
The Bulldogs (14-25) attempted to pull off the major upset building a 3-1 lead through 4 1/2 but the Trojans (31-6) scored nine unanswered runs to pull away. Knox led the comeback effort for Mount Olive with a solo homer in the second, an RBI-double in the fourth and a two-run blast in the sixth.
Barton will play an elimination game against No. 5 Erskine College on Friday at 11 a.m., before Mount Olive takes the diamond against No. 3 Belmont Abbey College on Friday at 3 p.m.
Junior shortstop Chris Rawlings has three of the Bulldogs seven hits and drove in half of the teams four runs with a single in the fourth and a double in the ninth. Freshman Collins Cuthrell added a pair of hits and two runs.
MOC took an early 1-0 lead on a Knox shot in the second before a bases-loaded fielder's choice by Barton sophomore Phillip Williams evened the score in the third. Barton took its only lead with a pair of runs in the fourth that featured Rawlings' go-ahead single through the left side of the infield.
Three Trojan unearned runs in the bottom of the fourth aided by two Barton throwing errors allowed the designated hosts to regain the lead for good. Mount Olive pulled away with four runs in the sixth that featured a two-run homer by Knox, his second of the game and league-leading 17th of the season. Senior Joseph Westbrook followed with a solo shot that hit off the top of the left-center fence and bounced over as MOC hit back-to-back homers for the first time in 2011.
Knox was 3-for-3 with four runs scored after walking in his final plate appearance. Westbrook and senior classmate Ryan Faison each collected two hits as the trio accounted for seven of the Trojans 10 hits.
Junior starter Pete Levitt struggled early before settling down to earn the win. Levitt (6-2) allowed three runs on five hits and two walks over eight innings. Levitt finished with seven strikeouts and he did not allow a Barton hit in his final four innings of work.
Sophomore lefty Kyle Norville suffered the loss for the Bulldogs giving up eight runs (five earned) on seven hits over the first 5 2/3.
