Tigerville, S.C.----Belmont Abbey College's Luke Cureton led off the bottom of the 10th with a walk-off solo homer Thursday afternoon, leading the 20th-ranked Crusaders to a 5-4 victory over Wingate University in the opening round of the 2018 NCAA Division II Southeast Regional baseball tournament. Belmont Abbey improves to 38-12 overall, while the Bulldogs fall to 34-18 on the season. Both teams are back in action Friday.

Cureton and Thomas Yoder each homered to lead the Belmont Abbey offense, with Nick Beinlich and Kevin Elefante each added two hits and an RBI for the Crusaders. Josh Genthe added a double and an RBI on the afternoon.

Senior outfielder Trent Wynn (New Bern, N.C.) was two-for-three with three RBI to lead the Wingate offense. Sophomore infielder McCann Mellett (Charlotte, N.C.) was two-for-four with an RBI and two runs scored, while junior infielder Tyler Schneider (Richland, Ind.) added a double and a run scored for the Bulldogs.

Belmont Abbey jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second when Yoder started the frame with a solo homer. Wingate answered in the top of the third when Mellett ripped an RBI single to center, plating Brett Branton (Athens, Ga.) to make it 1-1.

The Bulldogs took the lead in the sixth, with a Mellett walk and Schneider ground-rule double putting runners on second and third with one out. Bradley Brown (Hamlet, N.C.) was intentionally walked to load the bases, but a strikeout brought Wynn to the plate with two outs. The senior delivered with a two-run single up the middle to make it 3-1.

Belmont Abbey tied it in the bottom of the frame, with a single and double putting runners on second and third with one out. Genthe's RBI groundout made it 3-2, while Elefante followed with the game-tying RBI single. The Crusaders took the lead in the seventh on Beinlich's RBI single, making it 4-3.

Mellett and Schneider started the eighth inning with back-to-back singles, with a Micah Goodwin (Rougemont, N.C.) single loading the bases for Wynn, who plated Mellett with a sacrifice fly to deep left center to make it 4-4.

That was the score in the bottom of the 10th, when Cureton led off the frame with a solo blast to left center to give the Crusaders the walk-off win.

Parker MacPhail got the win, moving to 6-1. He tossed 2 2/3 shutout innings, striking out three while allowing just one hit. Sophomore right-hander Alex Rodriguez (Kannapolis, N.C.) took the loss, falling to 6-1. He allowed a run on four hits in 2 2/3 innings, striking out one without walking a batter. Senior right-hander Hunter Morgan (Summerfield, N.C.) allowed four runs on eight hits in 6 1/3 innings, striking out four and walking one.

Wingate is back in action Friday, facing the loser of the Lincoln Memorial vs. Georgia College contest in an elimination game at 11 a.m.