Athletic News

04/10/2009 -
B.J. Dail Shatters MOC Single-Game Strikeout Record, Trojans Sweep Limestone

B.J. Dail shattered a school record with 15 strikeouts and finished with a complete game seven-inning one-hitter as Mount Olive defeated Limestone 2-1 in game two of a Conference Carolinas baseball doubleheader Friday at Scarborough Field. Dail retired 18 of the final 20 batters he faced and recorded 10 of his strikeouts in the final four innings. He did not allow a hit after the second inning.

Mount Olive won the opener 11-4 as Paul Novicki took a shutout into the seventh inning in his first start of the season and Jesse Lancaster belted a three-run homer. Alex Vertcnik and Jonathan Smith paced the Trojans’ 15-hit attack with three hits apiece.

The doubleheader sweep keeps Mount Olive’s chances alive of finishing second in the Conference Carolinas regular season standings.

Mount Olive (25-16 overall, 11-6 Conference Carolinas) had to come from behind in the nightcap after Limestone third baseman David Christy sent Dail’s first pitch of the second inning over the left field fence to give the Saints a 1-0 lead. Dail said after the game that the home run provided motivation.

“The home run got me fired up,” said Dail, a junior right-hander from Raleigh, N.C., and a transfer from Division I North Carolina. “I started to bear down after that.”

Dail (7-0) retired the next 10 batters after the home run, eight by strikeout. After allowing a one-out walk in the fifth, Dail struck out the next two batters. Dail recorded at least one strikeout against every player in Limestone’s starting nine.

Limestone starter Jordan Barnett (5-2) had a pitching gem of his own going, retiring the first seven batters he faced and holding Mount Olive hitless through three innings. The Trojans finally got to Barnett in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Vertcnik and Rich Racobaldo led off with consecutive singles to put runners on first and third with nobody out and Airlon Vinson tied the game with a line single to left. After a force play put runners on the corners, a throwing error led to the second Trojan run. Jesse Lancaster broke for third and the Limestone catcher faked to second and threw to third to try to get Racobaldo. But the throw went into left field and Racobaldo scored to give Mount Olive its first lead of the game.

Dail tied the previous Trojan single-game strikeout record of 11 to end the fifth inning and broke the record to open the sixth inning. He retired the side in order in the sixth and overcame a two-out walk with his 15th strikeout to end the game.

Prior to Friday, the record of 11 strikeouts had been achieved five times. Casey Hodges recorded 11 strikeouts on two separate occasions, the first time in only six innings. Justin Staatz and Steve Wesley also reached the 11-strikeout mark. Ryan Barham recorded 11 strikeouts when he tossed the first no-hitter in school history in 2004.

“I wasn’t thinking about strikeouts or records at all,” said Dail. “I was just focusing on one batter at a time, one pitch at a time.”

Barnett struck out five for Limestone (25-18, 9-8) and finished with a four-hitter. Dylan Holton’s fifth-inning double was Mount Olive’s only extra-base hit off of Barnett.

In the opener, Mount Olive sent all nine batters to the plate in the bottom of the first as the Trojans jumped out to a 4-0 lead. Holton and Vertcnik led off with consecutive singles and Vinson singled Holton in with the first run. Lancaster, Smith and Joseph Westbrook added rbi-singles in the inning.

The Trojans added a pair of runs in the bottom of the third on sacrifice flies by Kevin Kearney and Westbrook after loading the bases with nobody out.

Vertcnik singled with one out in the fourth and Racobaldo followed with a walk. One out later, Lancaster drove a 3-1 pitch over the left field fence for his fourth home run of the season to give the Trojans a 9-0 lead. A fielding error with the bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth brought in two more runs to extend Mount Olive’s lead to 11-0.

Novicki (2-0) notched his longest outing as a Trojan, exceeding his 5 1/3 innings of scoreless relief in his win over Ashland in the second round of the 2008 NCAA Division II Baseball National Finals.

Novicki kept Limestone scoreless on three hits through six innings before the Saints used the long ball to break up the shutout. Tim Welsh belted a two-run homer with nobody out in the top of the seventh and Ryan McKenzie hit a solo home run one out later. McKenzie added another solo home run in the ninth off of reliever David Combs, who retired eight of the 10 batters he faced.

Welsh and McKenzie had three hits apiece for the Saints.

Mount Olive’s two wins, coupled with Barton’s 12-8 win Friday at Erskine, put the Trojans in third place in the conference standings heading into the final day of the regular season, a half-game behind Barton and a half-game of Erskine. Mount Olive needs to beat Limestone again Saturday and for Erskine to get at least one win against Barton for the Trojans to move into second place. Belmont Abbey, which finished conference play last weekend, has clinched the regular season title and the No. 1 seed in next week’s Conference Carolinas Tournament.

Mount Olive and Limestone conclude their three-game series with a single game Saturday at noon at Scarborough Field.

Derek Staton - Men's Basketball

Athletic News