GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The No. 9 Catawba College baseball team overcame an early 3-0 deficit and scored 12 unanswered runs as the Catawba Indians defeated visiting Tusculum University 15-4 in seven innings Friday night at Newman Park.
Catawba (24-10, 15-4 SAC) pounded out 18 hits on the night including six home runs to take the series opener over the Pioneers (14-21, 8-11 SAC). The Indians snap their three-game losing streak, while Tusculum has its four-game winning streak halted.
Catawba's Sam Hunter went 4-for-5 including his three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh to end the game via run-rule.
Starting pitcher Payne Stolsworth (7-1) went the distance for Catawba as he allowed four runs (3 earned), six hits and recorded five strikeouts in his 93-pitch performance.
Tusculum got its first two batters on base to start the game as Caleb Webster led off with a base hit and moved to second when Landon Dockery was plunked by Stolsworth. Ben Scartz bunted them over and Omar Carreras singled home Webster with the game's first run. Sawyer Pace made it a 2-0 game with his RBI ground out. Max Schmarder capped the three-run frame with his RBI single to right.
With the single, Schmarder extends his personal hitting streak to 25 consecutive games, the fourth longest streak in school history. His streak is three games shy of tying the school record 28-game streak by All-American Maikol Gonzalez in 2008.
Catawba answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second thanks to Parker Styborski's two-run homer. The Indians added five more runs in the third as the Tribe homered three times to go up 7-3. James Dunlap hit a solo homer, Cole Hales and Ty Hubbard later followed with two-run homers each.
Catawba added a run in the fourth and four more in the seventh including Matthew Connolly's solo homer to make it a 12-3 contest.
Meanwhile, Stolsworth settled down after the shaky first frame and retired 12 of the next 13 batters including 11 in a row.
Tusculum scratched a run in the seventh when Ryan Ortega led off with a single, moved to second on an error and later scored on Webster's RBI single to cut the deficit to 12-4.
But the in the bottom of the seventh, Dylan Driver and Dunlap were both hit by pitches to start the inning and Hunter followed with his third homer of the season, a three-run shot down the right field line to end the game.
Schmarder's base hit also extends his on-base streak to 30 consecutive games.
The two teams will wrap up the weekend series on Saturday with a 1 p.m. doubleheader.
