Catawba Advances To Food Lion SAC Baseball Championship Game With 14-4 Win Over Carson-Newman

April 20, 2008

HICKORY, N.C. - The No. 23 Catawba College Baseball Team (37-15) advanced to the finals of the 2008 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Tournament with a 14-4 win over Carson-Newman (37-16) in an elimination game Sunday afternoon at L.P. Frans Stadium in Hickory, N.C.

Catawba will take on No. 29 Tusculum in the championship game beginning at 1:30 p.m.

Catawba hit three home runs and every player in the starting lineup had at least one hit in the win.

Bubba Morris (Spencer, N.C.) went four-for-four with two doubles and three runs batted in to lead Catawba's 20-hit attack.

Trailing 2-1, the Catawba Indians took control with a four-run second inning highlighted by back-to-back home runs by Matt Kepley (Greensboro, N.C) and David Thomas (Winston-Salem, N.C.).

The Catawba Indians then pushed their advantage to 9-2 with three more runs in the sixth inning, highlighted by Jerry Sands' (Clayton, N.C.) two-run home run, his league-leading 21st of the season.

Catawba then put the game away with four runs in the top of the ninth inning.

Kepley added three hits and three RBI for Catawba while Carson-Newman's Mills Rogers (Simpsonville, S.C.) drove in two runs to lead the Eagles.

Catawba's Tim Smith (Walnut Cove, N.C.) improved to 4-2 with the victory while Carson-Newman's Wes McIntyre (Chattanooga, Tenn.) suffered the loss and fell to 5-2.
2008 Catawba Baseball
#23 Catawba vs Carson-Newman
Apr 20, 2008 at Hickory, NC (L.P. Frans)

Catawba 14 (37-15) Carson-Newman 4 (37-16)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI
--------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------
David Thomas cf............ 5 2 1 1 Langdon Potts 2b........... 3 0 2 0
Chad Baker 2b.............. 5 3 3 1 Profitt ph................ 1 0 0 0
Jerry Sands rf............. 5 1 1 3 Jason Gray cf.............. 4 1 1 0
Ryan Query c............... 6 0 3 2 Tyler Kitts ph............ 1 0 0 0
Craige Lyerly 3b........... 6 1 1 0 Wesley Dozier dh........... 4 2 2 0
Brett Hatley dh............ 4 1 2 0 Nick Achberger lf.......... 4 1 1 0
Chris Ahearn ss............ 5 2 2 0 Derek Long 1b.............. 3 0 1 1
Bubba Morris 1b............ 4 3 4 3 Tyler Wynn rf.............. 3 0 0 0
Matt Kepley lf............. 5 1 3 3 Corey Lamson ph/rf........ 1 0 0 0
Tim Smith p................ 0 0 0 0 Mills Rogers ss............ 3 0 1 2
Keith Carrigan p.......... 0 0 0 0 Cory McGinnis 3b........... 3 0 0 0
Cody Nix ph/3b............ 1 0 0 0
Jonathan McMahon c......... 3 0 0 0
E.T. McCreary ph.......... 1 0 0 0
Wes McIntyre p............. 0 0 0 0
Dustin Davis p............ 0 0 0 0
Charlie Hill p............ 0 0 0 0
Willie Buchanan p......... 0 0 0 0
Jeremy Yoder p............ 0 0 0 0
Totals..................... 45 14 20 13 Totals..................... 35 4 8 3

Score by Innings R H E
-------------------------------------------
Catawba............. 141 003 104 - 14 20 2
Carson-Newman....... 200 001 010 - 4 8 3
-------------------------------------------

E - C.Ahearn(20); B.Morris(10); Rogers(20); McMahon(4); McIntyre(2). DP - CAT 1. LOB
- CAT 9; C-N 7. 2B - C.Baker 2(16); C.Lyerly(9); B.Morris 2(5); M.Kepley(5). HR -
D.Thomas(17); J.Sands(21); M.Kepley(3). HBP - D.Thomas; B.Morris; Potts; Long. SF -
J.Sands(6); Rogers(3). SB - C.Lyerly(23).

Catawba IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tim Smith W,4-2........... 7.0 8 4 2 0 2 0 0 2 0 30 32 6 12
Keith Carrigan ............ 2.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 5 6 4 2

Carson-Newman IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wes McIntyre L,5-2........ 1.1 7 5 4 0 2 0 1 0 0 11 11 0 2
Dustin Davis .............. 1.1 4 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 7 2 1
Charlie Hill .............. 3.0 4 3 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 13 15 4 5
Willie Buchanan ........... 1.1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 5 6 1 3
Jeremy Yoder .............. 2.0 4 4 4 0 1 1 0 1 0 9 11 4 1

WP - Yoder(8). HBP - by T.Smith (Long); by Buchanan (B.Morris); by T.Smith (Potts); by
Yoder (D.Thomas). BK - K.Carrigan(1); McIntyre(1).
Strikeouts - J.Sands; C.Lyerly; B.Hatley; Wynn; Rogers. Walks - C.Baker; B.Hatley.
Umpires - HP: Tim Curtis 1B: Ben Frazier 3B: David Mabe
Start: 10:05 am Time: 2:35 Attendance: 185
T.Smith faced 2 batters in the 8th.