Mount Olive, playing in the program’s seventh straight Conference Carolinas Baseball Championship final, captured its 15th conference championship title and first since 2017 with a 13-3 run-rule victory over Francis Marion.

The Trojans, the four seed in the tournament, scored 34 runs over two games on Sunday at CaroMont Health Park to claim the tourmane title. In the 10-run victory over sixth-seeded Francis Marion, Mount Olive hit three home runs, belted out 16 hits and never trailed.

Landon Choboy, the tournament MVP, started the scoring with an RBI groundout in the bottom of the first. JT Stone followed with an RBI single and Cooper George added a third tally with an RBI double. Francis Marion cut the deficit to one, 3-2, on a Mickey Skole two-run single in the top of the second. Another Choboy RBI, he finished the tournament with 21, and a Stone home run pushed the lead back to three for Mount Olive in the third.

Will Hardee, who hit .522 in the tournament, singled in a run for the Patriots in the fifth to make it 5-3, but George plated two with a single in the bottom of the frame to make it a six-run contest. Then Mount Olive exploded for six runs in the seventh as Choboy and Alden Cottle each had two-run home runs, Dylan Jeffries singled in a run and Jack Casbarro ended the game with an RBI single for the 13-3 victory. 

Three Trojans combined to allow three runs on six hits with Dawson Gause (4-2) collecting the win as he tossed 2.2 shutout innings with a pair of strikeouts. Chas DeBruhl (6-5), an all-tournament selection, took the loss. Casbarro paced the Trojans with four hits, three runs scored and an RBI while George had three hits, scored once and drove in three runs. Choboy finished with four RBIs and one run scored. Six different Patriots collected a hit in the loss. 

In the first game of the day, game 12 of the tournament, Mount Olive scored in all but one inning and pounded out 16 hits in a 21-1 victory over third-seeded UNC Pembroke to advance to the title contest. Choboy led the offensive attack as he went 3-for-5 with three home runs and nine RBIs in the win. He opened the scoring with a three-run home run in the first, plated a run in the second with a groundout, added two more in the third with a two-run home run and plated three more in the sixth with his second three-run home run in the contest. UNC Pembroke scored in the first on a Kody O’Connor single. Hunter Stevens (1-1), the 2021 Conference Carolinas Pitcher of the Year, earned the win as he allowed one run on five hits with one walk and eight strikeouts over five innings. 

Mount Olive hit a tournament-best .397, scored 65 runs and had 13 home runs over five games. The Trojans also had the best tournament ERA of teams that played at least two games at 3.66. Hardee had a tournament-best 12 hits while Casbarro scored the most runs (12) and Choboy had the most RBIs (21). Stone and Choboy tied for the lead with five home runs each while Robbie Jordan of Francis Marion had the most strikeouts with 10.

The Trojans earn the automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Baseball tournament and will learn their regional seed at 10 p.m. on Sunday, May 14. The selection show will be streamed live at NCAA.com.

Fans can watch replays of every game of the tournament live via the Conference Carolinas Digital Network and BlueFrame at conferencecarolinasdn.com. Information regarding the championship schedule, bracket and CaroMont Health Park, home of the tournament host Gastonia Honey Hunters, are available here. 

2023 Conference Carolinas Baseball All-Tournament Team

MVP – Landon Choboy, Mount Olive

JT Stone, Mount Olive

Vito Patierno, Mount Olive

Joshua Jones, Mount Olive

Jack Casbarro, Mount Olive

Will Hardee, Francis Marion

Chas DeBruhl, Francis Marion

Robbie Jordan, Fancis Marion

Jonathon Jacobs, UNC Pembroke

Tanner Halvorson, Barton