Baseball Loses a Pair to Catawba
MARS HILL, N.C. - Catawba College swept a South Atlantic Conference baseball double-header from host Mars Hill Saturday at Henderson Field. The Catawba Indians improved to 11-3 overall and 5-0 in the SAC. MHC fell to 7-10 on the season and 2-3 in the league.
Game 1: Catawba 9, MHC 8
Catawba took a 2-0 advantage in the second inning
when Austin Moyer scored on a single from Brett Underwood and then
Chris Dula scored on a sacrifice fly from Julio Zubillaga. MHC tied
the game in the third frame when Michael Bueker hit a two-run
homerun.
The teams traded runs in the third inning before Catawba won the fourth frame 2-1. Coty Pate hit a solo homerun in the fourth inning for the Lions.
MHC took a 6-5 lead after six innings of play when they tacked on two runs. Adam Lewis accounted for the runs with an RBI double that scored Bueker and Tyler Reboulet.
Catawba took the lead for good in the seventh inning scoring four runs on three hits highlighted by a three-run homerun from John Neese. The Lions made a strong comeback in their final at-bat scoring two runs but Ross Whitley got Reboulet to fly out to preserve the one-run win.
Neese led Catawba at the plate going 2-4 with a homerun and three RBI. Garrett Furr followed going 2-5 with a homerun and two RBI. Moyer went 2-3 with two runs scored. Wil Huneycutt picked up the win (2-0) in relief for Catawba. Whitley got the save (2).
Lewis led MHC at the plate going 3-5 with a double and two RBI. Pate was 2-5 with a homerun and two RBI. Bueker went 3-5 with a homerun, two RBI and a pair of runs scored. Charles Anthony took the loss (0-1) for MHC on the mound.
Game 2: Catawba 14, MHC 1
The second game belonged to Catawba. They scored
three runs in the second inning on three hits and one Lion error.
Then after plating a single run in the third frame, Catawba scored
five runs in both the fifth and sixth innings. The Lions only run
came in their final at-bat when Reboulet had an infield single that
scored Pate.
Catawba recorded 16 hits in the win. Greg Lawson led Catawba at the plate going 3-3 with a pair of doubles and five RBI. He scored once. Dula went 3-4 with a double, two RBI and the same number of runs scored. Blake Houston and Ryan Bostian recorded two hits apiece. J.J. Jankowski picked up the win (3-0) pitching five innings scattering three hits while striking out nine Lion batters.
Michael Brittian and Reboulet led MHC offensively with two hits apiece. Greg Smith took his first loss of the season on the mound for the Lions.
The teams will conclude the three-game set tomorrow at 1 p.m. at
Henderson Field.
