#21 Baseball plates 11 unanswered runs in midweek win over USC Aiken

Salisbury, N.C. —- The 21st-ranked Catawba College baseball team allowed two solo home runs in the top of the first inning, but settled in from there, scoring 11 unanswered runs and allowing just one hit in the final eight innings to cruise to a midweek victory over USC Aiken on Wednesday at Newman Park.

TEAM STATISTICS

- Catawba out-hit USC Aiken 14-3

- The Catawba Indians recorded five of seven extra-base hits; both teams had a pair of homers

- The Pacers committed two of three errors in the contest

- Catawba had all four stolen bases on the afternoon

- Catawba's pitchers allowed two earned runs on three hits and one walk, striking out 10; USC Aiken's staff allowed 11 earned runs on 14 hits and six walks, striking out three

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

- Levi Perrell went 4-for-4 with a homer, a double, a steal, five RBI and three runs scored

- Sam Hunter added a 3-for-4 day with a homer, a triple, a walk, a steal, three RBI and two runs scored

- Bo Rusher also had three hits on the day and scored

- Dylan Driver tripled in two hits and drove in a run

- Cole Hales settled in after the early homers, throwing three hitless innings after the first with five strikeouts; Austin Fine, Casey Gouge, Payne Stolsworth and Carson Edmiston combined for five innings of shutout relief

HOW IT HAPPENED

FIRST INNING

- Josh Sharp led off the game with a solo homer to right field

- Joseph Mozingo followed with a homer to left center, as Aiken took an early 2-0 lead

- Perrell singled and stole second to lead off the bottom half

- He scored on an error on a failed pickoff attempt to cut the lead in half

SECOND INNING

- Cooper Bryson and Ty Hubbard walked, allowing Perrell's three-run homer to take the lead for good in the second

THIRD INNING

- The Catawba Indians loaded the bases with two outs in the third, when Perrell scored two more on an RBI single up the middle to extend the lead

FOURTH INNING

- Hunter homered with one out in the fourth to push the advantage to 7-2

FIFTH INNING

- Hunter came within a double of the cycle on a two-run triple in the fifth

- Driver made it back-to-back triples with his own RBI base knock, leading 10-2

EIGHTH INNING

- Jackson Finger's RBI sac fly scored Parker Styborski to close out the scoring for Catawba, who improves to 18-1 at Newman Park this season

UP NEXT

- Catawba returns to South Atlantic Conference action at Newman Park on Friday night, hosting Mars Hill at 6 p.m.