February 25, 2006

Game 1; Game 2

BELMONT, NC—Belmont Abbey opened the CVAC season in dominating fashion, sweeping a doubleheader against St. Andrews Presbyterian College by scores of 17-3 and 17-2 Saturday afternoon in men’s baseball. The Crusaders improved to 6-11 and 2-0 in the conference while the Knights dropped to 4-10, 0-5 in the CVAC.

Game one began as a pitchers duel as both starting hurlers went through the first three innings unscathed. The Crusaders broke through in the fourth, however, scoring five runs on a pair of back-to-back homeruns. Alex Udwari first smashed a grand-slam to left-center and Josh Haire followed up with a solo-shot to right center for a 5-0 lead.

The Knights fought back with a run in the fifth and another in the sixth on junior Cliff Allred’s (Franklinville, NC) solo homerun but that was as close as they would get. Belmont Abbey scored five more in the fifth, five in the sixth on another grand slam by Michael Gegorek, and two in the eighth on a two-run homer by Udwari.

Udwari went 5-6 in the game with two homers, eight RBI, and four runs scored in an impressive display at the plate. Gegorek went 2-5 with four RBI and a run scored while Haire went 3-5 with three runs scored and a RBI. Andy Helms went seven innings with two earned runs allowed and six strikeouts to get the win.

Senior Anthony Mehling (Pottsville, PA), who went 3-for-5 from the plate, drove in the other two runs for the Knights with RBI-doubles in the fifth and seventh.

The Abbey offense stayed hot in the second game, jumping out to a 5-0 lead after three innings. St. Andrews pushed two runs across in the fourth but Belmont Abbey scored four more in the bottom of the frame for a 9-2 lead. The Crusaders then added four runs in the fifth and put eight on the board in the fifth to end the scoring.

Udwari scored another four runs and went 3-4 at the plate, while Haire went 4-5 with three runs scored and two RBI. Robert Yero drove in three runs and Tyler McKenzie went 2-3 with two RBI and a run scored. Michael Raymond pitched a complete game with two earned runs allowed and five strikeouts.

Senior Will Clark (Laurinburg, NC) and junior Ritchie Priest (Elizabethtown, NC) drove in the Knights two runs with singles in the fourth.

The two teams will complete the three-game conference series on Sunday afternoon at 1:00 PM.

Back