By Nick Phillips, Editor

May 21, 2011

Photo by Nick Phillips

Braves hitter J.J. Williams is hit by a pitch in UNCP's 7-3 loss to Mount Olive in the NCAA Southeastern Regional May 21.

The UNCP baseball team left 11 runners stranded on the base paths throughout the game, and the No. 7 Braves fell to No.2 Mount Olive 7-3 in the NCAA Southeast Regional on May 21, forcing UNCP into an elimination game later in the day.

Mount Olive pitcher Pete Levitt kept the Braves at bay, striking out nine Braves over 7-2/3 innings, while Mount Olive tallied 10 hits offensively to end UNCP's 11-game winning streak.

"I thought Mount Olive played an excellent baseball game," UNCP head coach Paul O'Neil said.

"Levitt threw fantastic and gave them everything that they needed. We didn't swing the bats well enough to give ourselves many opportunities. I thought Brad (Isom) threw the ball well, but we just didn't score enough runs to help them out," O'Neil added.

Isom was saddled with the loss for the Braves, after the senior gave up seven hits and four earned runs over 6-1/3 innings of work.

Junior J.J. Williams finished 3-for-3 at the plate in the loss while also driving in a run, while fellow junior Aaron Parnell added two hits.

Braves junior Alex Pearce drew a bases-loaded walk to give UNCP a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning, but Mount Olive answered with a run in the fourth to tie the game before going ahead for good with two runs in the sixth inning.

Mount Olive added another run in the seventh before blowing the game open in the eighth inning whn they scored three runs.

UNCP added a run in both the eighth and ninth innings but it was not enough to keep them out of the losers bracket.