SALISBURY, N.C. --- Bo Rusher III went 3-for-3 with six RBI to lead top-seed Catawba to a 15-4 win over No. 4 seed Tusculum in seven innings in an elimination game of the 2024 South Atlantic Conference Baseball Tournament at Newman Park.
The Catawba Indians (40-13) advance to Sunday's championship game against Lincoln Memorial while the Pioneers (26-26) have their season come to a close.
Catawba finished the game with 14 hits while Tusculum was held to six hits and hit into four double plays in the seven-inning contest which ended due to run-rule.
The Indians used three big innings including four runs in the third, five in the fourth and three in the seventh including Dylan Driver's three-run homer to end the game.
Catawba scored twice in the first inning thanks to RBI doubles from Driver and Rusher.
The Pioneers had a big inning in the making in the second when Murphy Flood was hit by a pitch and Omar Carreras drew a walk to start the inning. Jake Absher put down a bunt which resulted in an error, scoring Flood from second and Omar Carreras to third. Will Samuelson drew a walk to load the bases, but a bunt resulted in a double play where the runner was forced out at home as TU trailed 2-1.
Ten batters went to the plate in a four-run, third inning for Catawba, which included a two-run single by Rusher and a RBI hit from Logan Rogers as the Indians led 6-1.
Tusculum got its first hit of the game in the fourth when Flood led off with his fifth home run of the season. Carreras was hit by a pitch, Jake Absher singled and Samuelson was walked to load the bases with no outs. After a strikeout, Zach Wilson singled up the middle to drive in two runs as Catawba led 6-4.
The Indians responded with five runs in the fourth to increase their advantage to 10-4 with the big hits coming on Rusher's two-run single and a RBI hit from Ty Hubbard.
Driver finished the game going 3-for-3 with four runs scored and four RBI, while Levi Perrell , Rogers and Hubbard each had two hits.
Flood and Absher were the lone Pioneers with multiple-hit outings.
Catawba reliever Mason Gwyn pitched 3 2/3 shutout innings, scattering three hits with one walk to improve to 8-1. TU starter Luke Absher (2-6) suffered the loss in his 2 1/3 innings on the mound.
Tusculum's Zane Keener went 0-for-4 to snap his 28-game on-base streak which began Mar. 2, 2024. It is the eighth-longest streak in program history.
Flood finished the yearwith a .421 batting average which is the ninth-best average in a TU single-season. His 80 total hits are also tied for the ninth-highest tally by a Pioneer and the most since Daulton Martin tallied 86 in the 2018 campaign.
During the SAC Tournament, Flood batted .556 (5-of-9) with five runs scored, four RBI and three extra-base hits. he was also hit by a pitch four times and posted a 1.222 slugging percentage in his three games in Salisbury.
