GASTONIA, N.C. – The Barton baseball team (34-16) fell to No. 7 Young Harris (39-12), 10-1, in an elimination game Friday afternoon at Sims Legion Park in the 2024 Conference Carolinas Championship.
The Mountain Lions will move into Saturday and will face the loser of Erskine and UNC Pembroke at 3:00 p.m., at CaroMount Health Park. The Bulldogs were the sixth seed in the tournament while the Mountain Lions were seeded second.
Young Harris was powered by three home runs courtesy of Ethan Stamps (Madison, Ga.), Jeremy Begora (Cartersville, Ga.) and Jack Enrico (Woodstock, Ga.).
Stamps finished with three runs batted in as well as the Mountain Lions held a slim 2-1 advantage after six innings of work before breaking the contest open by scoring seven runs over the final three frames. Young Harris' Dylan Beck (Chesapeake, Va.) improved to 9-2 on the season after earning the win while Ryan Cross (Marietta, Ga.) pitched four scoreless innings for his third save of the year.
For Barton, junior catcher
Chase Waddell (Lucama, N.C.) hit a sacrifice fly but senior
Matt Rivers (Kernersville, N.C.) fell to 5-3 after taking the loss.
The Bulldogs, ranked seventh in the latest NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Poll, now must wait and see if they earn a bid to the national tournament.
