BELMONT, N.C. – The Barton baseball team (7-21, 5-16) suffered a doubleheader setback to No. 24 Belmont Abbey (26-8, 19-5), 4-3 and 13-5, Saturday afternoon at Abbey Yard.
Game One – Belmont Abbey 4, Barton 3 (seven innings)
Belmont Abbey's Joe Whitaker (Tampa, Fla.) walked off the game with an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning to lift the Crusaders to the win.
Barton sophomore infielder
Blake Kolesnik (Wake Forest, N.C.) finished with a pair of hits and tied the score at three with a sacrifice fly in the top of the seventh before Whitaker's heroics in the bottom half of the frame.
Belmont Abbey's Spencer Cipro (Brookfield, Mass.) improved to 6-0 on the season after earning the complete game victory while Barton senior
Layton Dupree (Tarboro, N.C.) (0-3) was tagged with the loss.
Game Two – Belmont Abbey 13, Barton 5
Belmont Abbey's Jacob Steinberg (Darnestown, Md.) hit a bases-clearing double as part of an eight-run eighth inning as the Crusaders broke the contest open after the game was tied at five-all.
Steinberg finished with four runs batted in as the Crusaders ran their winning streak to 10 games.
Barton sophomore catcher
Jackson Marvel (Johns Creek, Ga.) finished with a pair of hits including a two-run single as the visitors held an 11-9 advantage in hits despite the loss. A pair of Bulldog errors, however, led the seven Crusaders runs.
On the mound, Belmont Abbey's Bailey Faircloth (Mooresville, N.C.) improved to 2-1 on the year after pitching two scoreless innings in relief. Barton sophomore
Brandon Arthur (Belhaven, N.C.) (0-1) was tagged with the defeat.
Barton returns home to host rival Mount Olive on Friday, April 3, at 3:00 p.m., at Nixon Field in a league contest.
Belmont Abbey hits the road to take on Wingate in Wingate, N.C., on Tuesday night starting at 6:00 p.m.
