SALISBURY, N.C. --- Catawba ran its winning streak to 10 games with a doubleheader sweep of visiting Tusculum in South Atlantic Conference baseball action on Saturday at Newman Park. The Catawba Indians, ranked 15th in NCAA Division II, won by the scores of 9-8 and 6-4. Catawba improves to 36-8 overall and 23-4 in the SAC, while the Pioneers fall to 31-14 and 16-11.
Catawba rallied for four runs in the eighth to grab game one. Ryan Bostian singled home Blake Houston with two outs in the eight to put the Indians on top. Wil Huneycutt got the final two outs for the save, while Nathan Furr got the win with a scoreless inning of relief. (Game 1 Box)
The Indians trailed by three runs on two occasions in the opener, including 8-5 coming to bat in the eighth. Garrett Furr led off with a solo home run. John Neese followed with a single and Brett Holmgren doubled to put the tying runs in scoring position with no outs.
After a strikeout, Houston singled home a run and then stole second. With Bostian at the plate and two outs, Catawba scored the tying run on a balk on what would have been a third strike. Bostian took advantage of his second life and singled to center to bring home Houston for a 9-8 lead.
Tusculum led 3-0 early after home runs by Alexi Colon and Trey Drewery. Catawba tied the game in the third on a three-run homer by Chris Dula. Neese gave the Indians their first lead at 5-4 in the fifth on a two-out, two-run homer.
The Pioneers battled back as Colon connected on his second homer of the game, a two-run blast in the sixth and Sean Cotten singled home two runs in the eighth to give TC an 8-5 advantage.
Colon had three hits and four RBI in the opener, while Drewery also collected three hits for the Pioneers. Bostian, Furr, Neese and Houston each had a pair of hits for Catawba.
Catawba grabbed a quick 3-0 lead after an inning in the nightcap. Dula tripled home a run and later scored on an error. Neese added a sacrifice fly. Josh Hohn singled home a run in the second to stretch the lead to 4-0. (Game 2 Box)
Drewery and Colon helped bring the Pioneers back. Drewery singled home a run with two outs in the third and Colon connected on a two-out, two-run homer in the fourth to trim Catawba's lead to 4-3. The Indians answered in the fifth as Brett Underwood doubled home a pair of runs with two outs.
Tusculum got the tying run to the plate in the seventh after a two-out single by Cody Coffman cut the margin to 6-4. Huneycutt would strike out Matt Henriksen to end the game and post his second save of the doubleheader to run his total to eight on the season.
John Tuttle got the win for Catawba as he held Tusculum to three runs on five hits over four innings. He walked three and struck out three to improve to 6-1. Clay Watson and Corey Norman each tossed a hitless inning of relief to get the game to Huneycutt.
Bostian, Dula and Houston each added two more hits in the nightcap. Greg Lawson also had a pair of hits in game two. Drewery and Lukas Graves collected a pair of hits each for Tusculum.
Colon finished the day with three home runs, giving him a team-best 11 on the season, tied for the eighth most in school history.
Tusculum will be in action this Wednesday in the opening day of the 2011 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Tournament, held at McNair Field in Forest City, N.C. Official seeding and bracket will be released by the SAC office later this weekend.
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