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Mount Olive Continues Its Mastery Of Anderson

ANDERSON, S.C. - Mount Olive ran its winning streak against Anderson College to 10 straight games with a sweep of the homestanding Trojans in a Carolinas-Virginia Athletic Conference doubleheader Friday afternoon at Anderson Memorial Stadium. In the first game, Mount Olive jumped out to a 5-1 lead and survived two Anderson rallies to take an 8-6 victory. In the second game, Michael Erexson pitched a six-hit shutout and Anderson left 11 runners on base in seven innings as Mount Olive took a 4-0 victory. The sweep improves Mount Olive to 29-19 overall and 16-9 in the CVAC. Anderson, which has lost four straight and six of its last eight, now stands at 30-19, 14-9. Anderson entered Friday needing just one victory to stake claim to its first-ever CVAC regular-season title. Mount Olive's sweep makes Saturday's 1 p.m. series finale a regular-season championship game. Mount Olive can now win the title - its third in the last five seasons - with a victory on Saturday. If Anderson wins, it will win the championship by percentage points. If Anderson loses, it could drop as far as fourth place. In the first game, Mount Olive had 13 hits, all singles, and took advantage of five Anderson errors. Six different players drove in one run apiece for Mount Olive in the first game. After a scoreless first inning, Mount Olive scored in four straight innings to build a 5-1 lead. Mount Olive scored two runs in the third inning on an RBI single by Stevie Parrish and a ground out by Craig Hurba. Anderson's lone run in the first six innings came in the third on a walk to Brad Newton and back-to-back two-out singles by Jared Taylor and Jason Ratliff. Anderson got back in the game in the seventh by pushing three runs across. Newton forced in the first run by walking with the bases loaded. A ground out by Taylor brought in the second run and a single by Ratliff cut the Mount Olive lead to 5-4. But with Newton standing on third with the tying run, Jason Jones grounded out to end the inning. Ratliff, who was 3 for 5, was the lone Anderson player with more than one hit in the first game. Mount Olive answered the AC rally with three unearned runs in the eighth, but Anderson tried to rally again in the bottom of the ninth. Anderson loaded the bases with two outs and Jones delivered a two-run single make it 8-6 in favor of Mount Olive. But a ground out by F.A. Vildosola ended in the game. In the second game, Mount Olive scored two runs in the first, added insurance runs in the fifth and seventh, and rode the pitching of Erexson for the sweep. Brad Church, who was 2 for 5 in the first game, was 3 for 4 with one RBI in the second game. Parrish and Rhett Summerford had two hits apiece for Mount Olive in the second game. Church drove in the run in the fifth inning with a two-out single, and Parrish had a two-out RBI double in the seventh. Erexson struck out two, walked three, and stranded 11 Anderson runners. Anderson left two or more runners on base in five of the seven innings and was 1 for 13 with runners on base. Trailing 3-0 in the sixth, Anderson had the bases loaded with two outs, but Taylor popped out to end the threat. Erexson's shutout was the second one recorded against Anderson in the last eight games and the third against the Trojans this season. All three shutouts have come in CVAC games. Anderson has scored three or fewer runs in four of its last eight games. Brett Youngblood, Anderson's starter in the second game, struck five and walked two in 6 1/3 innings. Game One Statistics Game Two Statistics