Baseball

April 3, 2010

Baseball Completes Sweep of LR; Lyerly's Streak Reaches 70 Games

HICKORY, NC -- Catawba completed a three-game sweep of host Lenoir-Rhyne with a 10-4 victory in South Atlantic Conference baseball action on Saturday afternoon at Bears Field.  The Catawba Indians have now won 10 straight and 15 of its last 16.  The Indians improve to 28-7 overall and 12-6 in the SAC, while the Bears fall to 15-20 and 7-11.

Catawba broke open a tight game in the fifth as it scored five runs to go on top 6-0.  Corey Parker (Kernersville, NC/Glenn HS) had a two-run single and Ryan Bostian (Kannapolis, NC/S. Rowan HS/Montreat) doubled home a pair in the frame.

Lenoir-Rhyne pushed across a run in its fifth.  Stephen Andrews led off the inning with a double after Tribe starter Nathan Furr (Albemarle, NC/W. Stanly HS) had sat down the first 12 Bears he had faced.  Brian Dice singled the run home, but Furr worked out of further damage, getting a come-backer with runners at second and third with one out and fly out to end the inning with the bases loaded.

The Bears chased Furr in the eighth with a single and a double to start the inning.  Dice cut the Catawba lead to 6-4 on a single, but Wil Honeycutt (Locust, NC/W. Stanly HS) struck out Dalton Hall to end the frame with runners at the corners.

Catawba added four insurance runs in the eighth, one on a solo home run by Wade Moore (Salisbury, NC/W. Rowan HS/NC State), his third of the series.  Garrett Furr (Gold Hill, NC/Mt. Pleasant HS) capped the scoring with a two-run homer.

Nathan Furr allowed three runs on six hits over his seven innings.  He walked one and struck six as the junior improved to 6-0.  Travis McSweeney (Palm Harbor, FL/East Lake HS) tossed a perfect ninth to close out the contest.  Andrews and Dice each had two hits to lead the Bears.

Moore had three hits and scored three more runs for Catawba.  Bostian had two hits and drove in four, while Parker also had two hits and the two RBI.  Criage Lyerly (Salisbury, NC/E. Rowan HS) did not get a hit, but did walk twice and scored twice to keep his streak of reaching base safely alive at 70 consecutive games.

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