Baseball

February 2, 2008

Baseball Settles For Split In Season-Opening Doubleheader

GREENWOOD, SC -- Catawba and host Lander battled to a split of the season-opening baseball doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at Legion Field.  The Catawba Indians took the opener 11-1, while the Bearcats claimed a 4-1 win in game two. 

Catawba grabbed the lead early in the opener as Jerry Sands (Clayton, NC/Smithfield-Selma HS) homered in his first at bat with two outs in the opening frame.  The Indians added a run in the second on a single by Nathan Furr (Albemarle, NC/W. Stanly HS) and broke the game open with a four-run third.  Ryan Query (Kannapolis, NC/Brown HS) had a two-run single and Craige Lyerly (Salisbury, NC/E. Rowan HS) delivered a two-run triple for the 6-0 lead.

Tribe starter Tim Smith (Walnut Cove, NC/S. Stokes HS) cruised through four innings, allowing just two hits, but got into trouble in the fifth after a pair of errors helped load the bases with no outs.  The senior would limit Lander to just a single run in the inning on a one-out single by Robert Skinner.

The Bearcats had a threat in the sixth off reliever Wil Huneycutt (Locust, NC/W. Stanly), but Sands gunned down Brooks Arnette at the plate to end the frame.  Catawba benefited from a pair of Bearcat errors in the seventh, getting RBI singles from Furr, Lyerly and Bubba Morris (Spencer, NC/N. Rowan HS) for a 9-1 edge.

Smith earned the win, the 26th in his career, as he scattered three hits over five innings and allowed a single unearned run.  He walked two and struck out five.  Huneycutt tossed two scoreless innings of relief, while Cliff Poole (Greensboro, NC/NE Guilford HS) and Travis McSweeney (Palm Harbor, FL/East Lake HS) each tossed an inning to close out the game.

Lander drew first blood in the nightcap as a Skinner single drove home an unearned run in the third.  Catawba answered in the fourth as David Thomas (Winston-Salem,NC/Ledford HS) led off with a triple and scored on Query’s sacrifice fly.

The Bearcats scored what would be the winning run in their half of the fourth.  Josh Lovvorn doubled with two outs and scored on a single by Alex Baur.  Lander would add two more runs in the fifth for insurance on singles by Malcolm McLeod and Gabe McCann.

Daniel Hinchberger went six innings to grab the win.  He allowed four hits and struck out five.  Craig Robertson tossed a perfect seventh for the save.  Blake Ketner (Davidson, NC/NW Cabarrus HS) took the loss for Catawba as he allowed four runs (three earned) off 10 hits as he pitched into the fifth.  Freshman Tim Holmes (Bay Village, OH/Bay HS) threw an inning and two-thirds of scoreless relief. 

 Lyerly led Catawba at the plate with a double and a triple after picking up two hits and three RBI in the opener.  Query had three hits and three RBI in the two games with Thomas collecting three hits.  

Box Score