WILSON, N.C. – The Barton baseball team (32-9, 15-9) scored four runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to rally and stun rival and No. 10 Mount Olive (29-11, 17-6), 13-12, Sunday afternoon to sweep the Conference Carolinas weekend series at Nixon Field.
Barton sophomore second baseman
Salvatore Laimo (Philadelphia, Pa.) hit a walk-off, RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning – scoring graduate student first baseman
Mason Staz (Olin, N.C.) – as the Bulldogs tied the school single-season record for wins in the NCAA Division II era. The 2003 and 2006 squads also won 32 games in a season.
Laimo and junior outfielder
Evan Harding (Clayton, N.C.) both hit solo home runs and graduate student outfielder
Matthew Rivera (Egg Harbor City, N.J.) added a three-run round-tripper for the Bulldogs, who improved to 24-3 at home this year.
Mount Olive lost despite the play of Dylan Jeffries (Ocean Isle Beach, N.C.), who hit a grand slam and drove in six runs for the visitors.
Barton senior
Brett Anderson (Milford, N.H.) improved to 3-0 after earning the win while Andrew Ledbetter (Huntington Station, N.Y.) (3-2) was tagged with the loss for Mount Olive.
Barton next travels to Due West, S.C., to take on Erskine on Friday at 3:00 p.m., in a league contest while Mount Olive faces Newberry in Florence, S.C., on Tuesday beginning at 3:00 p.m.
