SAC Baseball Championship Day Three Recaps

No. 1 Catawba 4, No. 3 Lincoln Memorial 2

FOREST CITY, N.C. -- Catawba avoided elimination on the arm of Shaefer Shepard's complete game 4-2 win over Lincoln Memorial at the 2014 Food Lion SAC Baseball Tournament on Saturday afternoon at McNair Field. The top-seeded Catawba Indians improve to 30-17 and will next face Wingate tonight at 7:30 p.m. The Railsplitters fall to 27-17-1 and are eliminated from the tournament.

Shepard threw six and two-thirds innings of no-hit ball until a single through the right side by Josh Coker ended the bid in the seventh. The red-shirt freshman improved to 7-1, limiting LMU to two runs on four hits with a walk and nine strikeouts.

That seventh-inning single was the lone hit allowed until the ninth when LMU threatened, cutting the lead to 4-2 on a two-out, two-run double by Kyle Floyd. Shepard bounced back to get a groundout to short to end the game.

Catawba scored a pair of runs in both the first and third innings to get on top. Blake Houston led off with a double and scored on a single by Keaton Hawks. Hawks scored on a single by T.J. Wharton. Ethan Satterfield doubled the lead with a two-run single two innings later.

Houston and Wharton had two hits for Catawba and Hawks scored two runs. Wes Todd (5-3) took the loss for LMU. He gave up four runs (three earned) off five hits. Todd walked one and fanned two.

No. 5 Tusculum 8, No. 4 Newberry 4

FOREST CITY, N.C. -- Tusculum survived an elimination game at the 2014 Food Lion SAC Baseball Tournament on Saturday afternoon at McNair Field with an 8-4 win over Newberry. The Pioneers improve to 28-20 and will next play on Sunday at 1 p.m. Newberry falls to 29-23 and is eliminated from the tournament.

The Pioneers jumped on top with three runs in the bottom of the first and McKenly Berry pitched into the ninth to keep Tusculum alive. Berry went eight and a third innings, allowing four runs (three earned) off six hits. He walked three and struck out four.

Scott Gibson capped the opening scoring inning for Tusculum with a two-run single. The Wolves pulled within 3-2 in the fifth on a single by Brandan Sheridan, but TC put up single runs in the fifth and seventh to grab a 5-2 edge.

The Pioneers pushed across three runs in the eight for insurance to make it 8-2. Newberry loaded the bases and got a pair of runs in the ninth, but Clark Ayers shut the door for TC.

Heath Comerford had two hits, scored two run and drove in a pair of runs for Tusculum. Trey Drewery also had two hits.

No. 1 Catawba 1, No. 2 Wingate 0 (12 innings)

FOREST CITY, N.C. -- Craig Brooks delivered a bases-loaded single with one out in the bottom of the 12th to give top-seeded Catawba a 1-0 win over second-seeded Wingate on Saturday night at the 2014 Food Lion SAC Baseball Tournament at McNair Field. Brooks' hit ended the pitching duel and kept the Catawba Indians, now 31-17, alive in the tournament. Wingate falls to 30-15. Catawba will play for the title at 4 p.m. on Sunday. The Bulldogs are still alive and will play Tusculum in an elimination game at 1 p.m. on Sunday with the winner facing Catawba.

Both teams struggled to mount scoring opportunities with only one runner reaching third base before the 12th inning. That came in the third when Catawba had runners at second and third after Paul Kronenfeld singled and Keaton Hawks doubled with one out. Stephen Vaughan got a strike out and ground to get out of trouble.

Vaughan went nine innings for the Bulldogs and allowed just five hits while striking out a dozen without a walk. Matt Farmakis had the start for Catawba and went six shutout frames on four hits.

Wingate left a pair of runners on in the second and fifth and chased Farmakis following a leadoff single by Brad Cherry in the seventh. Sean Grant came on to get a double play on a bunt and a pop up.

Michael Trombino would toss two and two-thirds innings of hitless relief for Catawba before giving way to Ryan McClintock after a pair of two-out walks in the 10th. McClintock got a ground out and went on to post two more shutout innings to eventually get the win and improve to 4-0.

Brandon Donahue (3-2) entered for Wingate in the 10th and shutout Catawba for two frames before getting into trouble in the 12th. After an out, Ethan Satterfield singled and T.J. Wharton doubled. An intentional walk was issued to Julio Zubillaga and Tyler Brown entered for Donahue. Brooks, who had struck out in his four previous at bats, delivered a liner through the right side on a 0-1 pitch to plate the winning run.

Kronenfeld and Hawks each had two hits for Catawba. Tyler Simmons and Shane Billings had a pair of hits for the Bulldogs.