Belmont Abbey Ends Francis Marion's Streak at NCAA Regional

AIKEN, S.C. - Senior left-hander Andrew Morton scattered seven hits en route to his second complete game of the season and sixth-seeded Belmont Abbey College defeated seventh-ranked and second-seeded Francis Marion University 7-2, Saturday morning (May 16) in a winners’ bracket game at the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Baseball Tournament.

Belmont Abbey (37-24), unbeaten in the double-elimination tournament, advances to Sunday’s championship game at noon, while Francis Marion (38-14-1) will play again on Saturday in an elimination game at 7 p.m. against the USC Aiken/Catawba College winner.

The BAC win avenged a pair of Crusader losses to FMU during the regular season and snapped Francis Marion’s school-record 17-game winning streak.

Morton (8-2) threw 135 pitches, 95 of which were strikes, while striking out seven and walking three.

Sophomore center fielder Justin Vasquez paced the Crusaders at the plate with a 2-for-4 effort that included a run scored and two runs batted in. Sophomore first baseman Daniel Kassouf was also 2-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI.

FMU junior center fielder Martin Gordon and senior designated hitter Jared Barkdoll were both 2-for-4.

Francis Marion took a 1-0 lead in the third when Gordon scored from first on a hit-and-run single by Alex Lee.

The Crusaders answered with three runs in their half of the inning, the first two scoring in unusual fashion. Patrick Atwell and Tyler McKenzie scored seconds apart on a two-run double off the left field fence by Vasquez. The second runner was literally running right behind the first, but the relay-throw home was higher or FMU catcher Jacob Wallace could have had a chance at a double play tag out. Vasquez then scored on a single to left by Spencer Sobol.

The margin grew to 4-1 on a sacrifice fly by Danny Brion in the fifth frame. FMU answered with a run in sixth on a sacrifice fly by Wallace, but Belmont Abbey plated two runs in the bottom of the sixth to lead 6-2. McKenzie and Kassouf delivered RBI singles.

Francis Marion junior southpaw Jeremiah Meiners (6-2) was the losing pitcher as he allowed four runs on four hits in 5.1 innings. He walked four batters and hit one.

Boxscore

Francis Marion Head Coach Art Inabinet – “I thought we were beat in every phase of the game, they (Belmont Abbey) out-pitched, out-hit, and out-coached us. They beat us in every phase of the game.”

“On this particular day, they (Belmont) were the better team.

“I’m anxious to see how the guys respond. We’ve won a lot of games in row, this is the first time they’ve (the team) tasted defeat in a long time. Winning or losing tonight isn’t as important to me as it is to see how they respond to adversity.”

“There are three teams left with one loss, somebody’s going to fight their way back through the loser bracket.”

“I think we’ll come out to play.”

“Two good teams are playing to fight us tonight.”

“I’m not going to take anything away from Belmont Abbey, their pitcher was better, and they outplayed us.”

“All of us (remaining four teams) are in the same boat, we’re getting down in that bull pen area where the team that hits the most is going to win. Our guys have hit well all year. I think if we can get through tonight, and don’t be surprised if we win this thing tomorrow. I’m not going to say we will because we’ve got a big hurdle to get through tonight.”

Belmont Abbey Head Coach Kermit Smith – “I don’t think we can take the mentality that we’re now the team to beat, we haven’t taken it to this point. We haven’t taken a mentality other than we have certain style of baseball we play when we’re doing good.”

“We’re going to concentrate more on playing the game."

“We’re going to go back and get a nice afternoon, come back tonight to watch some baseball and really enjoy it.”

“The guys mean so much to me, and we’re here for a purpose, but we’re going to enjoy the experience too.”

Belmont Abbey Pitcher Andrew Morton – (On being able to pitch nine full innings) “It had a lot to do with adrenaline, Coach (Chris) Anderson told me before we went to hit that last time, we’ll give you three hitters, get to the top of the order and go with someone fresh. That might have motivated me a little, and it helps when you have a five run lead. All the pressure was on them (Francis Marion) to put a runner in scoring position."

“We had a really good scouting report on them, we’ve played them twice in the regular season, and it helped that I pitched poorly before. It left a sour taste in my mouth. I went out wanting to go out and establish my pitches early, even though I knew I wasn’t going to shut them out.”

“To go out and have a quality start, that was my goal for today.”