Tusculum, Catawba Open Play at NCAA Baseball Region Championship

Catawba and Tusculum both opened play at the 2012 NCAA Division II Baseball Championship Southeast Regional on Friday.  

Catawba 3, Mount Olive 2

MOUNT OLIVE, N.C. – Senior Nate King threw a complete game as 21st-ranked Catawba staved off elimination with a 3-2 win over fourth-ranked Mount Olive at the 2012 NCAA Southeast Region Baseball Tournament on Friday afternoon at Scarborough Field. 

The fifth-seeded Catawba Indians improve to 40-15 and will play again on Saturday at 4:30 p.m.  The top-seeded Trojans see their season come to an end at 44-10.

The Indians managed just three hits of Mount Olive's Jake Moser, but benefitted from six walks to eke out the win.  Moser (10-3) went eight innings and allowed three runs, two earned, while striking out three.

Catawba went on top in the bottom of the fourth, loading the bases with no outs on a single by Ryan Bostian (Kannapolis, NC/S. Rowan HS/Montreat) and walks to Ethan Satterfield (Madison, NC/McMichael HS) and Garrett Furr (Gold Hill, NC/Mt. Pleasant HS).  Moser limited Catawba to just a single run which came on a fielder's choice off the bat of Julio Zubillaga (China Grove, NC/Carson HS).

The Trojan answered back in the fifth with a pair of runs to take the lead.  Braden Reitano and Cameron Sherrer led off the frame with doubles with Reitano tying the game as he scored on a ground out by Will Bynum.  Sherrer scored on a passed ball to give the hosts a 2-1 edge.

The Indians would load the bases in the fifth with one out.  Keaton Hawks (Lexington, NC/E. Davidson HS) had an infield single then Chris Dula (Troutman, NC/S. Iredell HS) walked and Bostian was hit by a pitch.  Satterfield lifted a fly ball to score Hawks and tie the contest.

An error by the Trojans with one out in the seventh led the go-ahead run for Catawba as Dula reached on a bat throw.  The sophomore stole second then was able to block the view of Trojan third baseman Jermaine Berry on a grounder from Satterfield.  The ball glanced off Berry's glove and Dula raced home to beat a high throw from shortstop Mike Mercurio to put Catawba up 3-2.

King did the rest as he allowed only one baserunner over the final two frames, coming on a two out walk to Berry in the eighth.  The lefty scattered seven hits to improve to 5-2 in just his sixth start of the season.  Of the two runs he allowed, only one was earned.  King walked two and fanned eight.

- Courtesy Catawba Media Relations

Tusculum 4, Catawba 3

MOUNT OLIVE, N.C. -- Aaron Guinn's RBI single in the bottom of the eighth inning gave second-ranked Tusculum College a 4-3 victory over No. 21 Catawba College in the opening round of the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional baseball tournament at Scarborough Field.

The game was completed Friday morning after being suspended in the seventh inning Thursday night following heavy rains. Fifth-seeded Catawba (39-15) led 3-2 entering play on Friday, but second-seeded Tusculum (47-8) scored runs in the seventh and eighth to come back for the victory.

Michael Franklin (7-0) earned the win with 1 1/3 innings of relief, and John-Austin Shepard worked out of a jam in the ninth for his eighth save of the season for the Pioneers, which ties the program single-season record set in 2006 by Wes Hill.

Trailing 3-2 when play resumed, the Pioneers tied the game in the seventh against Indian reliever John Tuttle on a sacrifice fly by pinch-hitter Heath Comerford that brought home Alexi Colon.

In the eighth, Tripper Crisson led off against Tuttle (4-4) with a single, took second on a sacrifice by Lukas Graves and scored on a hit to left by Guinn to give the Pioneers their first lead of the game at 4-3.

The Indians threatened in the ninth against Franklin, who took over on the mound for Pioneer starter Craig Goodman after the rain delay. Greg Lawson led off with a double, and pinch-runner Justin Morris moved to third on a sacrifice by Chris Dula.

Ryan Bostian greeted Shepard with a grounder to short, and Crisson's throw to the plate allowed Reid to block the dish and keep Morris from coming across with the tying run. Ethan Satterfield followed with a single off the bag at second to give the Indians runners at first and second, but Shepard fanned Furr to end the game.

Both teams finished with 11 hits in the game, with Catawba stranding 10 runners on base and Tusculum leaving 11 on the basepaths.

"I thought the rain helped us. We were not playing well. We were not very sharp. The break gave us a chance to get together and regroup," said Pioneer head coach Doug Jones. "We've done a lot of 3-inning intra-squad situations and we were able to execute when we came back today."

The teams had just finished the top of the seventh inning on Thursday afternoon when heavy rain began falling at Scarborough Field. After a delay of nearly two hours, the game was suspended until Friday morning.

Catawba took advantage of an error on the opening batter of the game to take a 2-0 lead in the first against Goodman. Furr drove in the first run with an RBI double and Julio Zubillaga grounded out to third to bring home Satterfield and give the Indians a 2-0 lead.

The Indians moved ahead 3-0 in the third when Bostian singled with one out, stole second and scored on an RBI single by Furr.

The Pioneers left two runners on base in the second against Indians starter Nick Lomascolo, but came through in the third on three consecutive hits by Guinn, Stallings and Colon, the latter driving home Guinn to cut the Catawba lead to 3-1.

Tusculum had the bases loaded with one out, but Lomascolo worked out of trouble by getting a popup and a strikeout to retire the side.

The Pioneers pulled within 3-2 in the sixth as Carlos Santana singled and took second on a throwing error, moved to third on an infield single by Nate Reid and scored on a sacrifice fly by Crisson.

Crisson's sacrifice fly was the final pitch thrown by Lomascolo, who tossed 104 pitches in 5 1/3 innings and allowed seven hits and four walks while striking out three.

Goodman pitched seven innings for Tusculum, giving up one earned run on nine hits while striking out seven and walking two. Franklin and Shepard combined to work two innings for Tusculum, giving up two hits and striking out a pair.

Reid led the way at the plate for the Pioneers, going 2-for-3 with a walk, while Furr was 3-for-5 with a double and two runs batted in for the Indians. Stallings and Santana each went 2-for-4 and Guinn was 2-for-5 for Tusculum, which did not register an extra-base hit in the game.

In Thursday's opening game, fourth-seeded Francis Marion (No. 6 nationally in NCAA DII) defeated third-seeded Armstrong Atlantic 11-2. Armstrong (No. 7 nationally ranked) will face the Mount Olive/Lander winner Friday evening, while the loser will play Catawba Friday afternoon.

Tusculum's 47 wins this season are the most in the nation, second most in school history and tied for the second most in conference history, matching Catawba's 47 wins in 2006. The Pioneers are three victories shy of matching the school and conference record of 50 wins set by Tusculum in 2007.

- Courtesy Tusculum Media Relations