MOUNT OLIVE, N.C. – The Barton baseball team (2-8, 0-4) suffered a close 5-4 setback to rival Mount Olive (7-2, 3-1) Friday afternoon in a Conference Carolinas weekend series opener at Scarborough Field.
Mount Olive's Alden Cottle (Ahoskie, N.C.) broke a four-all tie in the bottom of the eighth inning by scoring the winning run off a wild pitch. The Trojans were ranked No. 12 in the Collegiate Baseball NCAA Division II preseason poll.
Barton had rallied from a 4-0 deficit to tie the contest at four when sophomore catcher
Chase Waddell (Lucama, N.C.) came through with a run-scoring single in the top of the seventh inning. Waddell and junior first baseman
John McNamee (Philadelphia, Pa.) both finished with a pair of hits and an RBI in the losing effort for the Bulldogs, who suffered their sixth straight loss.
Mount Olive's Andrew Ledbetter (Huntington Station, N.Y.) (1-0) pitched the final two innings and held Barton scoreless to earn the win while junior
Ian Asken (Apex, N.C.) (1-2) was tagged with the loss for the visitors.
Barton and Mount Olive wrap up the weekend league series with a doubleheader on Sunday beginning at 1:00 p.m.
