MURFREESBORO, N.C. – The Barton baseball team (28-18, 19-10) continued its push for second place in the Conference Carolinas regular season standings with a doubleheader sweep of Chowan (6-31, 4-25), 11-2 and 7-1, Thursday afternoon at Hawkins Field.
Game One – Barton 11, Chowan 2
A trio of Bulldogs – junior first baseman
Johnnie Lowery (Lumberton, N.C.), senior shortstop
Ryan McIsaac (Millville, N.J.) and junior catcher
James Holladay (Washington, D.C.) – hit home runs to lead the Bulldogs to the win.
Lowery's two-run round-tripper in the first inning staked Barton to a 3-0 lead in the first frame while McIsaac and Holladay hit home runs as part of a six-run ninth inning to turn the contest into a rout. McIsaac and Holladay both drove in three runs for the Bulldogs.
Barton senior
Connor Patterson (Randleman, N.C.) improved to 3-0 after earning the win. Patterson allowed just one run over five innings of work while striking out six batters. Chowan's Rowan Hudson (Sunrise, Fla.) hit a solo home run while Shane Rademacher (Greenville, N.C.) (1-9) suffered the loss.
Game Two – Barton 7, Chowan 1
Barton junior
Tanner Halvorson (Eau Claire, Wis.) (10-2) set the school single-season record for wins and complete games (nine) in a single-season to lead the Bulldogs to the sweep. Halvorson scattered seven hits while striking out 10 batters in the victory.
Barton junior outfielder
Carelle Gonzalez (Bridgeton, N.J.) hit his team-leading 12th home run of the season – a two-run round-tripper in the second frame – while junior first baseman
John McNamee (Philadelphia, Pa.) drove in three runs in the victory.
Chowan's Aidan Feather (Chesapeake, Va.) finished with a pair of hits and an RBI while Nicky Wohleking (Kilmarnock, Va.) fell to 0-9 after taking the loss.
Barton and Chowan wrap up the league weekend series with a single game on Saturday at Noon.
