WILSON, N.C. – The Barton baseball team (26-12, 17-7) stayed in the thick of the hunt for the Conference Carolinas regular season championship with a doubleheader sweep of Erskine (16-22, 5-16), 10-9 and 10-6, Saturday afternoon at Nixon Field.
Game One – Barton 10, Erskine 9 (seven innings)
Barton senior outfielder
Evan Harding (Clayton, N.C.) hit a solo home run while senior second baseman
Mason Staz (Olin, N.C.) drew a bases-loaded walk in the sixth inning which broke a nine-all tie and proved to be the game-winning RBI in the victory.
Barton senior outfielder
Gavin Gilmore (Eastampton, N.J.) added two hits and two RBI as the Bulldogs rallied from a 5-0 deficit after the first half-inning of play to beat the Flying Fleet by one run in the second straight contest.
Erskine's Noah Hill (Archdale, N.C.) finished with three hits and drove in a team-high three runs in the losing effort.
On the mound, redshirt freshman
Brady Dunlop (Clayton, N.C.) improved to 5-0 after earning the win in relief while senior
Ryan Gordon (York, Pa.) pitched a scoreless seventh inning to register his first save of the year. Erskine's Rob Willis (Montgomery, Ala.) (0-3) was tagged with the loss.
Game Two – Barton 10, Erskine 6
Barton junior third baseman
Yariel Diaz (Fort Myers, Fla.) hit his team-leading seventh home run of the year and junior outfielder
Salvatore Laimo (Philadelphia, Pa.) was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the seventh inning which proved to be the game-winning RBI.
Staz added a two-run single in the six-run seventh frame and Harding hit another solo home run as the Bulldogs won their fifth straight contest. Barton sophomore
Dante Onorato (Cinnaminson, N.J.) (2-0) pitched three innings in relief to earn the win.
For Erskine, J.T. Yaccarino (Ocala, Fla.) and Jorge Pascual (Athens, Ga.) both hit home runs despite the loss. Jake Short (Duncan, S.C.) fell to 2-2 after taking the loss for the visitors.
Barton remains at home to host Coker on Tuesday starting at 3:00 p.m., while Erskine faces Georgia College in Milledgeville, S.C., on Tuesday beginning at 5:00 p.m.
