#1 North Greenville slugs and survives in win over Baseball in home finale
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
#1 North Greenville | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 12 | 1 |
|
Catawba | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 11 | 1 |
Salisbury, N.C. —- The Catawba College baseball team scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth and had the tying run at the plate vs top-ranked North Greenville on Monday night, but the Crusaders held on for the non-conference in the finale at Newman Park this season. NGU improves to 40-6 overall on the season, while the Catawba Indians drop to 27-22.
Dylan Driver went 2-for-3 with a double, an RBI, two runs scored and a stolen base, while Harris Jackson added two doubles, driving in a pair of runs and scored. Pat Montieth led the Crusaders, going 3-for-4 with a homer, two RBI, three runs scored and a stolen base.
John Michael Faile got the scoring started for NGU in the first with an RBI double before David Lewis' two-run homer extended the Crusader lead to 3-0. NGU doubled the lead in the second on home runs from Cory Bivins and Marek Chlup.
Catawba got on the board in the bottom half of the second, when Jackson's RBI double scored Carson Yates all the way from first and Jackson Finger's RBI single up the middle cut the deficit to 6-2.
NGU's Jalen Vazquez extended the lead with a solo homer in the third and Montieth's two-run homer made it a 9-2 Crusader lead through the middle of six innings. Ty Hubbard got a run back in the bottom half, scoring Driver on an RBI single before Faile answered with another RBI double in the eighth.
Catawba started its ninth-inning charge with Driver's RBI double to score Levi Perrell from first, then Jackson and Jackson Price recorded back-to-back bases-loaded hit-by-pitches to bring the tying run to the plate, but the Crusaders closed the door for the late-season non-conference win.
Reece Fields got the win for NGU, allowing two runs on three hits and striking out five in five innings of work. Cole Hales got stuck with the loss, allowing six runs on seven hits in two innings.
Catawba begins South Atlantic Conference Tournament action at Wingate this week, facing Lincoln Memorial on Friday at 3 p.m. in the tourney opener.