April 18, 2008

Catawba Advances In The Winner's Bracket Of The 2008 Food Lion SAC Baseball Tournament With A 10-4 Win Over Lenoir-Rhyne

Lenoir-Rhyne will face Saint Andrews Presbyterian at home on Tuesday beginning at 3:00 p.m.

Hickory, N.C. – Top-seeded Catawba got four hits from senior Chad Baker (Jamestown, N.C.) and eliminated fourth-seeded Lenoir-Rhyne with a 10-4 victory at the 2008 South Atlantic Conference Baseball Tournament on Friday afternoon at Bears Field on the campus of Lenoir-Rhyne College.

The Catawba Indians, ranked No. 23 in NCAA Division II, improve to 36-14 and advance to play the Tusculum at Noon on Saturday at L.P. Frans Stadium in Hickory, N.C.

The Bears, meanwhile fall to 21-30, and saw their losing streak hit a season-long eight games.

South Atlantic Conference Player of the Year David Thomas (Winston-Salem, N.C.) led off the game with a triple and Baker singled him home to give the Indians an early 1-0 lead. Catawba would scored three times in the second, capped by a run-scoring double by Baker, one of his three two-baggers on the day.

Catawba increased its lead to 7-0 in the fourth before Lenoir-Rhyne staged a rally. 

Junior third baseman Daniel Ford (Youngstown, Ohio/Manatee CC) broke through with a one-out single against Catawba starter Alex Fairweather (Lenoir, N.C.), who had not allowed a hit until that point.  After a pair of two-out walks, freshman catcher Brian Dice (Hickory, N.C./Western Carolina Univ.) cleared the bases with a triple to cut the margin to 7-3. Ford helped cut the deficit to 7-4 with a RBI groundout in the fifth.

Baker helped Catawba regain the momentum in the sixth as he doubled with one out and scored on a single by Jerry Sands (Clayton, N.C.). Two batters later, Craige Lyerly (Salisbury, N.C.) launched a towering two-run homer to left for a 10-4 Catawba lead.

Fairweather left after a leadoff single by Stephen Andrews (Winston-Salem, N.C.), but Brett Hatley (Salisbury, N.C.) finished up by tossing the final three innings to earn the save. He surrendered just one hit. Fairweather improved to 7-2 as he scattered four hits and struck out six. He issued four walks.

Freshman Brandon Padgett (Statesville, N.C./UNC Wilmington) fell to 3-5 with the loss for L-R.

Lenoir-Rhyne next hosts Saint Andrews Presbyterian on Tuesday beginning at 3:00 p.m.

Box Score