Tusculum Wins 2008 SAC Baseball Tournament Championship With 4-2 Win Over Catawba

April 20, 2008

HICKORY, N.C. - The Tusculum College Pioneers scored a 4-2 victory over No. 23 Catawba College to win the Championship of the 2008 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Baseball Tournament on Sunday afternoon at L.P. Frans Stadium in Hickory, N.C. Tusculum, ranked No. 29 in NCAA II, improves 38-12 and claims the league's automatic bid into the NCAA II South Region Tournament in May. Catawba, now 37-16, will await a possible at-large berth.

Tusculum scored all its runs in the fourth inning, but held on behind the complete game by Rob Currie (St. Charles, Ill.). The junior scattered eight hits and allowed two runs in going the distance for the first time this year. He walked three and recorded eight strikeouts.

Catawba went on top in the second inning as Ryan Query (Kannapolis, N.C.) and Craige Lyerly (Salisbury, N.C.) opened the frame with hits. A one-out walk loaded the bases and Bubba Morris (Spencer, N.C.) brought home the initial run with a ground out to third..

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Indian starter Blake Ketner (Davidson, N.C.) shut out the Pioneers until the fourth when he ran into trouble after a pair of walks to start the inning. Eric Conley (Knoxville, Tenn.) hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game and Sean Cotten (Mooresville, N.C.) followed with a double to put Tusculum on top 2-1.

The Pioneers would add two more in the fourth. Paul Finger (Lincolnton, N.C.) got one home on a chopper up the middle and the final run of the frame scored on an errant thrown on an infield single by Aaron Hudgins (Kingsport, Tenn.).

Catawba got a run back in the fifth. Morris singled with one out, moved to second on a wild pitch and took third on David Thomas' (Winston-Salem, N.C.) check-swing single. Chad Baker (Jamestown, N.C.) looped a double to center to cut the lead in half, but after an intentional walk to Jerry Sands (Clayton, N.C.), Query grounded out to end the frame.

The Indians had one last chance in the ninth as Brett Hatley (Salisbury, N.C.) led off with a single, but Currie retired the final three batters to finish off his complete game. Hatley kept Catawba within striking distance with four and a third innings of scoreless relief. He allowed one hit and struck out four.

Quotes:
Tusculum Coach Doug Jones: "We were picked to win the title in the preseason, but we got off to such a slow start. We were able to build up momentum heading into the tournament and we saw some improvement from our team during the week. As strong and competitive as our conference is, we knew that's what it was going to take to win the tournament."

(On pitcher Rob Currie): "He was unbelievable. We knew he had the potential to win it and he stepped up."

#23 Catawba vs #29 Tusculum
Apr 20, 2008 at Hickory, NC (L.P. Frans)

Catawba 2 (37-16) Tusculum 4 (38-12)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI
--------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------
David Thomas cf............ 3 0 2 0 Christian Rosa lf.......... 4 0 0 0
Chad Baker 2b.............. 4 0 1 1 Carlos Rivera cf........... 4 0 0 0
Jerry Sands rf............. 3 0 0 0 Maikol Gonzalez 2b......... 3 1 1 0
Ryan Query dh/c............ 4 1 2 0 Matt Webb rf............... 3 1 1 0
Craige Lyerly 3b........... 4 0 1 0 Eric Conley dh............. 3 0 0 1
Kevin McMillan c........... 3 0 0 0 Sean Cotten 1b............. 4 1 1 1
Andrew O'Neal pr.......... 0 0 0 0 Paul Finger 3b............. 3 1 1 1
Chris Ahearn ss............ 3 0 0 0 Marc Hyndsman c............ 3 0 0 0
Bubba Morris 1b............ 4 1 1 1 Aaron Hudgins ss........... 3 0 2 0
Matt Kepley lf............. 4 0 0 0 Rob Currie p............... 0 0 0 0
Blake Ketner p............. 0 0 0 0
Brett Hatley p............ 1 0 1 0
Totals..................... 33 2 8 2 Totals..................... 30 4 6 3

Score by Innings R H E
-------------------------------------------
Catawba............. 010 010 000 - 2 8 3
Tusculum............ 000 400 00X - 4 6 0
-------------------------------------------

E - C.Lyerly(15); C.Ahearn 2(22). DP - CAT 1. LOB - CAT 7; TC 5. 2B - C.Baker(17);
S.Cotten(9). SF - E.Conley(2). SB - M.Gonzalez 3(27). CS - D.Thomas(3); C.Lyerly(6).

Catawba IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Blake Ketner L,7-3........ 3.2 5 4 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 15 18 3 7
Brett Hatley .............. 4.1 1 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 15 15 5 4

Tusculum IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rob Currie W,4-4.......... 9.0 8 2 2 3 8 1 0 0 1 33 36 6 11

WP - R.Currie(2).
Strikeouts - D.Thomas; C.Baker; J.Sands; R.Query; K.McMillan 2; C.Ahearn; M.Kepley;
C.Rosa; M.Gonzalez 2; S.Cotten. Walks - D.Thomas; J.Sands; C.Ahearn; M.Gonzalez;
M.Webb.
Umpires - HP: Josh Reep 1B: Tommy Caudle 3B: Jamie Roebuck
Start: 1:35 pm Time: 2:09 Attendance: 215