WILSON, N.C.-Junior starter Bentley Massey tossed a three-hit complete game victory to lift No. 6 seed Barton College to a 3-1 victory over No. 5 Erskine College on day two of the 2011 Conference Carolinas Baseball Tournament hosted by BC and the Wilson Tobs at historic Fleming Stadium on Friday.
The Bulldogs improved to 15-25 overall and are scheduled to play another elimination game against a team yet to be determined on Saturday at 3 p.m. (weather permitting). The Flying Fleet exit the tournament with a 26-18 record.
Massey held an Erskine squad that entered the game hitting .301 on the season to just three singles over nine dominating innings. Massey (5-5) evened his overall record allowing just one run while striking out four. The right-handed local product from Wilson, N.C., retired 13 batters in a row during one stretch and only needed 107 pitches for his third complete game of the season.
Eight of the Bulldogs nine batters collected hits. Senior Matt Willis and freshman John Hunter each tagged two hits as Barton totaled 10 hits on the day.
The Fleet scored the contests first run in the top of the fourth without a hit. Senior Casey Winckowski drew a leadoff walk, advanced to second on a wild pitch and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt before scoring on a sac fly by sophomore Drew Willingham.
Barton jumped ahead in the home half of the fourth. Hunter drove in the game-tying run with a single down the left field line before scoring the go-ahead tally on a sacrifice fly by senior Aaron Watkins. The Bulldogs tacked on an insurance run in the eighth with Jordan Smith scoring on another sac fly, this time on a deep fly ball to center field off the bat of freshman Collins Cuthrell.
Senior starter Andrew Guest suffered his second defeat of 2011 in a quality start. Guest (6-2) scattered eight hits over 6 2/3 and did not issue a walk while fanning three.
