Central, SC – Southern Wesleyan upset the NCBWA nationally ranked University of Mount Olive Trojans on Sunday afternoon in a 6-2 final score. Just days ago, the Trojans had made the leap up to ninth in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll. However, home runs off the bats of Marty Grisso and Jarrett Whitley along with stellar pitching performances by Lukas Arvantides and Bryce Metts allowed the Warriors to take down the Trojans in the final game of the series.
The Warriors totaled 11 hits in the victory over Mount Olive. Marty Grisso went three for four at the plate including hitting his second home run of the 2025 campaign. Right behind him, Jarrett Whitley was two for four with a bomb of his own. Gage Shaver doubled and picked up the lone walk of the day, while Grisso also had the lone stolen base.
Lukas Arvantides started on the mound for the Warriors and pitched five innings while only allowing two hits and one run. Arvantides struck out three of the 18 batters he faced. Bryce Metts came in to pitch in the sixth inning and finished out the game. The senior out of West Columbia, SC struck out five of the fifteen batters to pick up his first win of the season.
Game Vitals
Final: Southern Wesleyan 6, Mount Olive 2
Records: Southern Wesleyan (3-12 / 2-4 CC) Mount Olive (9-5 / 4-2 CC)
How It Happened
Southern Wesleyan was the first to plate a run in the final game of the series on Sunday afternoon. With one out in the bottom of the second inning, Marty Grisso came up to bat and sent a rocket over the left center field wall to give the Warriors a 1-0 run lead.
Mount Olive challenged in the top of the fourth inning as Kenney sent the ball out to deep left field, but Jack Dennison collected the ball right at the fence to prevent the home run from landing and keep the Trojans off the board. Lukas Arvantides continued to shut down the Trojans' offense through five innings.
The Trojans tied the game up in the sixth inning as a bases loaded walk to Mitta allowed Crawford to come in to score. However, Bryce Metts struck out the side to prevent Mount Olive from capitalizing on the bases loaded situation any more than the one run.
The Warriors regained the advantage in the bottom of the seventh inning. Marty Grisso led off the inning by hitting a single to centerfield. Jason Culley came in to pinch hit for Nolan Evatt and was hit by the second pitch he saw to put two runners on and bring Jarrett Whitley up to bat. Whitley saw one pitch before cranking the ball over the left field wall for a three run blast to give the Warriors a 4-1 run lead.
Southern Wesleyan plated a couple more runs in the eighth inning. Gage Shaver led off the inning with a walk and then was able to advance all the way to third base on a single by Griffin Pickhardt. Jack Dennison hit a single to shallow right center field to bring Shaver in to score. A single by Marty Grisso loaded up the bases for Josh Long. Long hit a sacrifice fly to deep left center field to bring Pickhardt in to score to extend the Warriors lead to 6-1.
Mount Olive challenged in the top of the ninth inning as a single by McLean allowed Howard to come in to score. However, Kenney ground out to Marty Grisso who sent the ball across the infield to Niko Laing to get the final out of the inning and give the Warriors a 6-2 victory.
What's Next
Southern Wesleyan will host the Anderson Trojans on February 25 at 5pm. The Warriors will travel to Rome, GA on February 28 and March 1 to take on the Shorter Hawks. They will then host Lenoir-Rhyne on March 4.
