Tusculum, Catawba, Mars Hill Post Wins At Food Lion SAC Baseball Tournament
WINGATE, N.C. - The second-seeded Catawba College Catawba Indians pounded out 21 hits en route to a 13-4 victory over fifth-seeded Newberry College in the first round of the Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Tournament at Ron Christoper Stadium on Thursday afternoon.
Catawba (31-15) advances to take on the winner of Thursday night's Mars Hill/Wingate game in the winner's bracket at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Newberry (17-22) takes on sixth-seeded Lenoir-Rhyne at noon Friday in an elimination contest.
Catawba's Craige Lyerly (Salisbury, N.C.) was an impressive 5-for-5 at the plate with three RBIs, two runs, two doubles, two steals and a walk. Cameron White (Columbia, S.C.) was 4-for-4 with a walk and three runs scored.
Catawba starter Blake Ketner (Davidson, N.C.; 9-3 record) allowed four runs - three earned - on nine hits in 7-2/3 innings of work to pick up the win. Newberry's Josh McElwee (Andrews, S.C.; 5-3 record) was tagged with the loss after allowing seven earned runs on eight hits in 2-1/3 innings.
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Catawba's Craige Lyerly went 5-for-5 with 3 RBIs against Newberry. |
Newberry was paced offensively by Edmund Gravely (Rocky Mount, N.C.), who was 2-for-3 at the plate with a two-run single in the first inning. Casio Grider (Hephzibah, Ga.) was 2-for-4 on the day.
The scarlet and gray took the lead in the top of the first inning when Gravely singled up the middle to drive home Jovan Rohena (Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico) and Jose Rosa (Keystone Heights, Fla.).
Catawba took the lead with five runs in the bottom of the second. Corey Parker (Kernersville, N.C.) put the first run on the board with an RBI single to left-center, followed by a two-run double down the right field line from Lyerly. Brett Hatley (Salisbury, N.C.) and Ryan Query (Kannapolis, N.C.) each drove in runs with singles to give the Catawba Indians the 5-2 lead after two innings.
Zeb Link (Woodleaf, N.C.) drove home a run for Catawba with a double in the second and Lyerly collected his third RBI of the day with a single through the left side to put Catawba up by a 7-2 margin through three innings.
Neither team crossed the plate again until the sixth inning, when Catawba scored three times. With the bases loaded, Link drove home a run with an infield single and Parker plated two runs with a double down the left field line to take a 10-2 lead after six. Query added another run in the bottom of the seventh, as he led off the frame with a solo homerun to right field.
Newberry's offensive came back to life in the top of the eighth inning, taking advantage of two of Catawba's four errors on the day. C.J. Tyrkala (Palm Harbor, Fla.) and Gravely scored on errors in the inning to narrow the deficit to 11-4.
Catawba extended the winning margin to three runs in the bottom of the eighth on a Hatley sacrifice fly and an RBI single from Chris Ahearn (Charlotte, N.C.).
Tusculum 11, Lenoir-Rhyne 8
Wingate, N.C. -- The top-seeded Pioneers of Tusculum College scored six runs in the bottom of the eighth to rally back for an 11-8 victory over the sixth-seeded Bears of Lenoir-Rhyne University. Tusculum improves to 24-14 overall and will play the winner of the Wingate vs. Mars Hill game Friday at 3:45 p.m. The Bears will take on the loser of the Catawba vs. Newberry game at 12 p.m.
Senior infielder Aaron Hudgins (Kingsport, Tenn.) had a double and three RBI to lead the Tusculum offense. Sophomore infielder Payden Houser (Lincolnton, N.C.) had two RBI and three runs scored for the Pioneers while sophomore catcher Sean Cotten (Mooresville, N.C.) junior outfielder Nate Grabowski (Pennellville, N.Y.) drove in two runs each.
Senior infielder Zach Glass (Salisbury, N.C.) was two-for-five with a homer, two RBI and two runs scored to lead the Lenoir-Rhyne attack. Sophomore outfielder Stephen Andrews (Winston-Salem, N.C.) was three-for-four with an RBI and a run scored for the Bears.
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Tusculum's Matt Ford slides into home against Lenoir-Rhne |
The Bears jumped out to a three-run lead in the first, getting RBI singles from junior infielder Michael Pleau (Vero Beach, Fla.) and Andrews while also scoring a run on a wild pitch. Tusculum cut the lead to one in the third, getting an RBI walk from Grabowski along with a sacrifice fly from Cotten to make it 3-2.
The Pioneers took the lead in the fourth on a two-run double from Hudgins to make it 4-3. The Bears regained the lead in the sixth, getting a leadoff homer from Glass to tie it at four, then taking the lead on an RBI triple from junior infielder Chris Tucker (Hawthorne, N.Y.) to make it 5-4.
The Pioneers tied the game in the sixth on a sacrifice fly from Houser. Lenoir-Rhyne took a 6-5 lead in the top of the eighth on an RBI double from freshman outfielder Stephen Arcieri (Roswell, Ga.).
Tusculum had the answer, plating six runs in the bottom of the inning. Houser tied the game with an RBI triple. Hudgins gave the Pioneers the lead with a sacrifice fly. After Tusculum took a two-run lead on a wild pitch, Grabowski followed with an RBI double, then scored on a throwing error to make it 10-6. Cotten followed with a solo homer to make it 11-6.
The Bears scored a pair of runs in the ninth, getting RBI singles from Glass and sophomore catcher Brian Dice (Hickory, N.C.) to make it 11-8.
Senior Rob Currie (St. Charles, Ill.) got the win in relief, allowing one run on four hits in 2.1 innings, while striking out one. Junior Chris Henderson (Lincolnton, N.C.) took the loss, falling to 5-5 on the year. He allowed eight runs on nine hits while striking out five in 7.2 innings.
No. 3 Mars Hill 6, No. 4 Wingate 3
WINGATE, N.C. --- Mars Hill College's Matt Oleski hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning and Justin Hall pitched a complete game as the third-seeded Lions defeated No. 4 Wingate University, 6-3 Thursday night in the final game of day one of the 2009 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Baseball Tournament.
The six-team, double-elimination tournament is being held at Ron Christopher Stadium and Plyler Field on the Wingate campus.
Mars Hill (27-18) will face No. 2 seed Catawba College on Friday at 7:30 p.m., while Wingate will take on top-seeded Tusculum College at 3:45 p.m.
The game turned out to be a pitchers' dual between Hall and Wingate's Tyler Almond (Oakboro, N.C.).
With the score tied 3-3 in the eighth inning, Oleski blasted a three-run shot to right field off of reliever Lee Oxendine (Laurinburg, N.C.), with Brian Williams (Orlando, Fla.) and Brandon Savoca (Riegelwood, N.C.) on base to put the Lions ahead, 6-3.
The Bulldogs (23-18) got two runners aboard in the ninth inning, but Hall got a strikeout and a fly out to end the game.
It was a rocky start for Hall as his first offering of the game was sent over the scoreboard in left field by Casey Allison (Horse Shoe, N.C.) as the Bulldogs led early 1-0. Wingate added another run in the third when Allison led off with a single and later came into to score on Mark Letchworth's (Greenville, N.C.) RBI single.
The Lions answered in the bottom of the inning with a pair of scores, highlighted by a RBI double from Mike Dobre (Pompano Beach, Fla.) and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Cory DiBiase (Orlando, Fla.).
Wingate regained the lead in the top of the fourth as the Bulldogs mounted a two-out rally. Chris Vazquez (Tyrone, Ga.) connected on his 15th double of the year and came into score on Dustin Hurdle's (Burlington, N.C.) hit up the middle. But Mars Hill answered with a run in the fourth when Mike Kitt (Wes Islip, N.Y.) reached on an error, stole second and scored on Patrick Davidson's (Swannanoa, N.C.) run-scoring single.
Hall (6-2) went the distance as he scattered eight hits, allowed three runs, walked one and struck out five. Almond (4-4) also had a solid outing as he went seven innings, allowed five hits, four runs, three earned, walked three and struck out 10 in the loss.
Allison and Letchworth both posted multi-hit outings as the Bulldogs out-hit Mars Hill by an 8-6 margin.
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