GASTONIA, N.C. – The Barton baseball team (34-15) was upended by Mount Olive (35-14), 3-2, Thursday night in the opening round of the 2024 Conference Carolinas Championship at CaroMount Health Park.
Barton, the sixth seed in the tournament, will take on second-seeded No. 7 Young Harris (38-12) in an elimination game on Friday at 1:00 p.m., at Sims Legion Park. Mount Olive takes on seventh-seeded Belmont Abbey (26-23) Friday at 7:00 p.m. The Trojans, seeded second in the championship, are ranked No. 21 in NCAA Division II.
The Trojans, who were swept by the Bulldogs in a regular season weekend series, took the lead for good thanks to a two-run single from Alden Cottle (Ahoskie, N.C.) and Erik Johnson (Rush, N.Y.) earned the complete game victory on the mound and kept Barton's bats at bay. Johnson improved to 7-3 on the year to go along with 12 strikeouts.
For Barton, graduate student pinch hitter
Matthew Rivera (Egg Harbor City, N.J.) hit his team-leading tenth home run of the year in the top of the ninth inning while junior catcher
Chase Waddell (Lucama, N.C.) added an RBI double in the losing effort.
Barton junior
Tanner Halvorson (Eau Claire, Wis.) also went the distance in the losing effort. Halvorson (8-4) threw his third complete game of the year to go along with six strikeouts.
