In Tigerville, there was no shortage of fireworks as 2023 Conference Carolinas tournament champion Mount Olive, the four seed in the region, held on to defeat five seed Georgia Southwestern, 5-4, before John Micheal Faile broke the NCAA Division II career home run record in dramatic fashion, a walk-off, three-run home run to give 2023 Conference Carolinas regular season champion and No. 1 seed North Greenville a 6-5 victory over the Hurricanes.
Mount Olive collected 12 hits, led by a 4-for-4 game with two runs scored and two RBIs from Cooper George. The Trojans scored a single run in the fourth, fifth and eighth innings and added a pair in the sixth while GSW scored all four runs in the ninth. The Hurricanes scored first in game two against the Crusaders with three in the first and one in the second. They held a 4-0 lead until NGU scored a single run in the seventh and two more in the eighth to make it a one score game. The visitors added another in the ninth, but a pair of hits set the stage for Faile who sent a 1-0 pitch over the wall for his 76th career home run and a walk-off winner.
North Greenville and Mount Olive will play a best-of-three series to determine the regional winner. The first game will be on Friday, May 19 at 7:30 p.m. Game two will be on Saturday, May 20 at 2 p.m. with the if necessary third game to begin 40 minutes after game two.