MOUNT OLIVE, N.C. – The Queens University of Charlotte baseball team suffered an 8-5 setback on Wednesday to 16^th-ranked University of Mount Olive from Scarborough Field.
 
The Royals (1-3) jumped on the board early, scoring twice in the opening inning with RBIs from redshirt-sophomore Riley Cheek and redshirt-junior Noah Jones. However, the Trojans (1-0) scored three runs in the home half to take the early lead.
 
Mount Olive scored twice more in the second and again in the fourth to move their advantage to 6-2 before Carter Foster drove in a run in the fifth to cut into the deficit. The Trojans got the run back in the bottom of the fifth and tacked on one more in the sixth to go ahead 8-3.
 
Queens looked to rally late, taking advantage of a UMO fielding error to score in the seventh and using an RBI single from senior Drake Harris to score in the ninth but the deficit was too much to overcome.
 
Redshirt-sophomore Zach Kelly (1-1) was hit with the loss after giving up six runs on six hits with four strikeouts in just 3.2 innings on the mound. Junior Jordan Briones tossed two innings of relief, while freshman Luke Hutchinson and redshirt-sophomore Landen Wright combined for 2.1 hitless innings out of the bullpen.
 
Harris led the offense, going 2-for-4 at the plate with an RBI and a run scored as Cheek, Foster and Jones also had one RBI each in the contest.
 
Queens and Mount Olive will matchup again on Saturday, February 13 in Charlotte. First pitch from The Tuck is scheduled for 1 p.m. on the Queens Sports Network.