MOUNT OLIVE - To see one of college baseball's hottest teams, take U.S. 70 from Raleigh and drive 50 miles east, past farm fields, restaurants and several small towns.

Then turn onto U.S. 117, travel south 15 miles, swing onto scenic, tree-lined Henderson Street and park at Scarborough Field.

That's home of Mount Olive College's Trojans, the nation's No. 1- ranked team in Division II, and some say, a "best-kept secret."

Not that the Trojans lack tradition. They've won multiple titles under coach Carl Lancaster, a Goldsboro native with a 717-353 record in 22 seasons.

But gaining the school's first-ever No. 1 national ranking in any sport has brought about as much attention to the town as Mount Olive Pickles, packaged at a plant on Cucumber and Vine Street.

"It's unbelievable the interest from different parts of the world we are getting,'' said Lancaster, whose 49-5 club will play in the South Atlantic Regional on May 15. "I'm getting e-mails daily from [prospects] in Texas, Arizona ..."

Current players hear "Good job! Good game!" comments from faculty members, classmates and folks around the Wayne County town.

ESPN recently appeared to film an "NCAA On Campus" feature that will shine a spotlight on the baseball team and the college, which was founded in 1951 by the Convention of Original Free Will Baptists. The TV program is scheduled to air on ESPN Classic at 12:30 p.m. on May 21. ESPNU will show re-runs.

While long successful in baseball, Mount Olive has reached another plateau with an influx of junior college talent to go along with high school prospects. The 27-man roster includes 12 junior college players, five of whom usually start.

"Traditionally, we are a little junior college heavy,'' said Lancaster, who has built a broad recruiting network and brought in players from eight states, plus Canada. "There are so many colleges in North Carolina that the [top high school] players are pretty much picked over by D-I schools. What we are able to get out of high schools most of the time is a guy who has promise and hopefully can develop."

The pitching staff is strong-armed with junior college talent, anchored by All-America candidate Ryan Schlecht (12-0, 2.53 ERA), a senior from Scottsdale, Ariz.

Then toss in Casey Hodges (8-1, 2.78), Michael Williams (8-1, 4.01), Weston Curles (5-0, 3.10) and Todd Jeffreys (4-1, 3.66) and it leaves opposing hitters in ... well, a pickle. Collectively, Trojans pitchers have recorded four shutouts and given up just one run in the past 43 innings.

That mound mastery, along with a slew of heavy-metal hitters, has optimism running higher than gas prices.

"We can definitely win it all; that's been our goal the whole time,'' said Jason Sherrer, a junior college recruit from Mesa, Ariz., and the Conference Carolinas Player of the Year. He leads in batting average (.419) and RBIs (71) and ranks second in homers (11).

Also in the elite .400 club is right fielder Alex Vertcnik (.406, 70 RBI), a junior college player from Waukesha, Wis.

One prep prize is Josh Harrison (.337), a three-time all-conference outfielder from Wake Forest-Rolesville High.

Now consider the rest of the robust lineup.

There's last season's Division II National Player of the Year, first baseman Erik Lovett (.368, 14 homers) from Goldsboro and DH Dylan Holton (.368), who breezed in from Nova Scotia, Canada.

Providing additional pop are shortstop David Cooper (.361), third baseman Rich Racobaldo (.352), second baseman Anthony Williams (.311) and the coach's son, Jesse Lancaster (.344 and a 4-1 pitching record).

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