Baseball

May 1, 2011

Baseball Drops Series Finale to #2 Mount Olive

MOUNT OLIVE, NC -- Mount Olive got a solid start from Pete Levitt and held on to defeat visiting Catawba 5-3 in baseball action on Sunday afternoon at Scarborough Field.  With the win, the second-ranked Trojans improve to 39-7 and most likely secure the top spot in the Southeast Region.  The Catawba Indians, ranked 11th in NCAA II, fall to 40-13 and will await a possible at-large berth into the tournament.  The regional tournament will be held from May 19-22.

Mount Olive used a two-out single by Jacob Rogers in the first and a ground out by Antonio Callaway in the second to go on top 2-0 after two innings.  Catawba would tie the game in the third as the Indians collected three of their six hits in the frame.

Josh Hohn (Greensboro, NC/S. Guilford HS/North Greenville) doubled with one out and scored on a single by Chris Dula (Troutman, NC/S. Iredell HS).  Dula stole second and moved to third on a single by John Neese (Summerfield, NC/NW Guilford HS/Guilford Tech).   He would come home on a ground out by Garrett Furr (Gold Hill, NC/Mt. Pleasant HS). 

The Trojans came right back to retake the lead in the bottom of the third.  Mount Olive loaded the bases with one out and scored on a sacrifice fly by Nick Gaeta.  The scored stayed at 3-2 until the seventh when Dan Hayduk was able to single home a run with a two-out single to give the Trojans a 4-2 edge.

Furr led off the Catawba eighth with a home run and Jordan Kuhn (Lewis Center, OH/Olentangy HS) followed with a double to chase reliever Jeremy Hall.  That threat was erased when pinch-runner Garrett Robinson (Kernersville, NC/E. Forsyth HS) was thrown out at third on a ground ball to short by Keaton Hawks (Lexington, NC/E. Davidson HS).

The Trojans tacked on another run in the eighth on a single by Callaway and David Combs finished off the Indians in the ninth to earn his second save.  Combs did not allow a hit and struck out two in two innings of work.  Levitt (7-2) got the win as he scattered four hits and allowed a pair of runs over six innings.  He walked five and fanned seven. 

John Tuttle (Kannapolis, NC/A.L. Brown HS) took the loss for the Indians, falling to 6-2.  He allowed six hits and four runs over six and two-thirds innings.  He also walked five and struck out seven.  Furr led Catawba at the plate with a pair of RBI.  Rogers and Hayduk each had two hits for Mount Olive.  Callaway drove in two runs.

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