Catawba Advances To Championship of 2010 Food Lion SAC Baseball Tournament With 6-2 Win Over LMU
FOREST CITY, N.C. - Third-seeded Catawba defeated sixth-seeded Lincoln Memorial, 6-2, on Sunday afternoon in the Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Baseball Tournament at McNair Field, eliminating the Railsplitters.
With the win, the 24th-ranked Indians (37-10) advance to Sunday's championship game to face second-seeded Mars Hill. The Lions must beat Catawba twice to win the title. The Railsplitters fall to 25-24 on the season with the loss.
Catawba sophomore Clay Watson (Lexington, N.C.) threw a complete game for the Indians in the win. Watson (3-0) surrendered one earned run and seven hits and had three strikeouts.
Lincoln Memorial starter Steven Starbird (Rutledge, Tenn., 5-5) took the loss after giving up two earned runs and nine hits in six innings of work. He also distributed two walks and fanned three.
The Indians pounded out nine hits in the contest, including a 3-for-5 effort from Ryan Bostian (Kannapolis, N.C.). Craige Lyerly (Salisbury, N.C.) and Garrett Furr (Gold Hill, N.C.) contributed two hits apiece in the win, while Zeb Link (Woodleaf, N.C.) and Brett Underwood (Greensboro, N.C.) each drove in two runs.
Lincoln Memorial finished the day with seven hits. Juan Alvarez (Carolina, PR) and Cody Pack (Andersonville, Tenn.) both went 2-for-4 to lead the way.
Catawba jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first. Lyerly got things started with a two-out bunt single. Furr then drove in Lyerly with a single to right. Link capped off the inning with a two-run single to right center.
The Indians added to their lead in the fifth, as Josh Hohn (Greensboro, N.C.) reached on a Railsplitter error and later scored on a groundout by Underwood to give Catawba a 5-0 cushion.
Lincoln Memorial trimmed Catawba's lead to 5-2 in the sixth. Alvarez came through with a two-out single. After a Pack double, Garrett Copeland (Knoxville, Tenn.) singled to drive in Alvarez and Pack scored on a throwing error.
But Underwood's RBI sacrifice fly in the seventh drove in Furr to give the Indians a 6-2 advantage. Watson took care of the rest on the mound as he allowed just two hits in the final three innings.
Postgame quotes
Catawba head coach Jim Gantt:
Clay threw an outstanding game. You can't ask for anything better
than that. We had some key hits and a big sacrifice fly (in the
seventh) that gave us some breathing room. It was just a solid
baseball game.
Lincoln Memorial head coach Jeff Sziksai:
(Catawba) just made a few more plays than us and found a couple of
holes. You just have to tip your hat to Catawba. They played well
and deserve to win. We came in here and made a little noise, but
that wasn't our goal. Our goal was to win the tournament, but I'm
proud of our guys because they fought hard every single game and
fought to the last pitch today.
Mars Hill 6, Carson-Newman 3
FOREST CITY, N.C. - Second-seeded Mars Hill built an early five-run lead en route to a 6-3 victory over fourth-seeded Carson-Newman on Sunday morning in the Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Baseball Tournament at McNair Field.
With the win, the Lions (29-16) advance to play the No. 2
Catawba later Sunday afternoon 30 minutes after the matchup between
the Indians and sixth-seeded Lincoln Memorial. The Eagles (30-17)
are eliminated from the tournament with the loss.
Mars Hill starting pitcher Kevin Searcy (Hendersonville, N.C.) tossed a complete game to lead the Lions to the win. Searcy surrendered three runs and seven hits and fanned three to move to 5-4 on the season.
C-N starter Robby Thigpen (St. Petersburg, Fla., 2-5) was tagged with the loss after giving up three earned runs and five hits in 1 1/3 innings of work.
Reliever Ryan Fillers (Greeneville, Tenn.) kept the Eagles in the game with a solid 7 1/3 innings of work. He didn't allow an earned run and had three strikeouts.
The Lions pounded out eight hits on the day, including two from Devin Presnell (Boone, N.C.). Kris Torrance (P. Jefferson Station, N.Y.) contributed a solo home run, while Mike Kitt (West Islip, N.Y.) added a RBI double in the win.
C-N finished with seven hits. Senior Jeff Lockwood (Knoxville, Tenn.) led the way with two doubles, while Cody Nix (Cartersville, Ga.) produced a triple and Derek Long (Jefferson City, Tenn.) had a double.
Mars Hill jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the second as it tallied five hits and took advantage of two Eagle errors. Torrance launched a solo blast to right field to lead off the inning, while Kitt produced a RBI double. Presnell and Adam Lewis (MacClenny, Fla.) each produced a run-scoring single in the inning for the Lions.
C-N pushed across its first run in the home half of the second. Long drew a walk to get things started and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Tyler Davis (Carrollton, Ga.) to cut the Lions' lead to 5-1.
After the teams went scoreless during the next four innings, the Eagles ended the drought in the seventh. Long ripped a double to right center to lead things off. Two batters later, Nix delivered a triple to left center, scoring Long to trim Mars Hill's lead to 5-2.
C-N pulled to within 5-3 in the eighth, as Lockwood came through with a double and scored on a single to centerfield by Corey Lamson (Gray, Tenn.).
But the Lions added an insurance run in the top of the ninth, as Dalton Hardee (Boone, N.C.) scored on C-N's fourth error of the day. Searcy then retired the side in the bottom of the ninth to seal the victory.
Postgame quotes
Mars Hill head coach Dan Taylor:
Anytime you can survive and move on in any tournament, it's a
beautiful thing. Kevin Searcy pitched his heart out. He threw the
ball extremely well.
Carson-Newman head coach Tom Griffin:
As it was all tournament long, we just couldn't get any offense
going. Ryan Fillers came in and did an excellent job on the mound
and kept us in the game, but we were unable to take advantage of
our opportunities at the plate.