Baseball

March 11, 2002

Baseball avoids sweep of opening league series

JEFFERSON CITY, TN -- Catawba College earned a split of a doubleheader against 20th-ranked Carson-Newman in South Atlantic Conference baseball action at the Silver Diamond Complex on Sunday afternoon. The Eagles won the first game 8-4, while Catawba gained its first league win with a 13-11 victory in the second game. Catawba improves to 14-7 overall and 1-2 in the SAC, while Carson-Newman now stands at 17-7 and 2-1. Trailing 4-2 entering the seventh, Spence Southard (Greensboro, NC) connected for a two-out, two- run homer to tie the score. Carson-Newman won the game in the bottom half on Jason Southerland's two-out grand slam. The Eagles took the lead early on Aaron Shaffer's two-run homer in the first and added two unearned runs in the third. The Indians got single runs on Southard's RBI single in the third and Matt Baker's (Charlotte, NC) run-scoring single in the fourth. Catawba benefitted from seven Eagle errors in the second game and added 10 hits to grab a 13-11 win. Southard got the Tribe started with a two-run double in the first, but the Eagles struck for five in the first, three on a home run by Harry Slater, to lead 5-3 after an inning. Catawba retook the lead with three more runs in the second as Chad Hill (Bennett, NC) plated two with a triple. Carson-Newman scored two runs in the second and third to lead 9-7, but the Indians added four in the fourth to take the lead for good. Three errors benefitted the Tribe cause and Mike Robbins (Columbia, SC) had a two-run double to tie the score at 9-9. Blair Reynolds (King, NC) and Southard had RBI singles in the sixth to push the lead to 13-9 before Heath Mason hit a two-run shot in the sixth for Carson-Newman to close the gap to 13-11. Brian Hatley (Salisbury, NC) earned the win in relief for the Tribe, tossing six innings and allowing six runs on seven hits with seven strikeouts. Southard had three hits and three RBI, while Reynolds and Robbins each had two RBI. Slater hit a pair of home runs for Carson-Newman and had four RBI. Wes Miller had four hits. #######