Box Score by Kevin Buczek
WILSON, N.C.-The junior trio of Duncan Everett, Mike Brienza and Snooter Merryman combined to post the Bulldogs first shutout as Barton College defeated North Greenville University, 2-0, in the rubber game of a Conference Carolinas baseball series at Nixon Field on Sunday.
Merryman and senior Phillip Cotten drove in the Bulldogs two runs.
Barton (7-14 overall, 2-1 conf.) won its series against North Greenville (4-13, 1-2) for the first time in three years since the Crusaders joined the league.
Everett (1-3) hurled seven-plus innings of scoreless work to earn his first win.
NGU threatened to score with at least one runner in scoring position in five innings but the Bulldogs escaped each time.
Leading 2-0 in the top of the eight, Everett hit the first batter he faced and then gave up consecutive hits to sophomore Tyler Mitchell and junior Josh Sealey to load the bases with no outs. Brienza took over on the mound and wiggled the Bulldogs out of jam with a successful hold. Brienza got a popup, a groundout and a flyout to turn over the ball over to Merryman in the closer role. Merryman notched his fourth save and maintained his scoreless ERA with a strong ninth.
Barton got on the board with a two-out rally in the bottom of the second. Junior Avery Harper hustled out a double just inside the left field line and then scored on a blooper in the left field gap by Cotten, who was the Bulldogs hero in yesterday's 5-7 win with a walk-off homer in the bottom of the seventh.
Wheeler legged out his own double down the left field line in the sixth that resulted in an insurance run for BC. Wheeler advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored of an RBI squeeze play by Merryman.
Both squads had eight hits. Wheeler and Harper each had a double and single for the hosts. Sealey was the only Crusader with two base knocks.
NGU stranded 12 runners on base. A pair of walks and a double steal gave the Crusaders a great chance to score a couple runs in the fourth but Everett ended the frame with one of his three strikeouts. North Greenville was able to load the bases in the fifth with two walks around a Barton error but Everett survived again by inducing an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play.
Sophomore southpaw Matt Laurens went the distance for the Crusaders. Laurens (1-3) was tagged with the loss despite a quality start allowing two earned runs on eight hits over eight innings. Laurens notched seven strikeouts and issued just one walk.
Barton will next host Southeast Region foe Francis Marion University on Tuesday at 3 p.m.
