Catawba, Tusculum Advance To Championship In Food Lion SAC Baseball Tournament

WINGATE, N.C. - Second-seeded Catawba College advanced to the championship series of the 2009 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Baseball Tournament with a three-hit, 12-0 shutout of fifth-seeded Newberry College.

Catawba (33-16) will play top-seeded Tusculum in the championship series at 1 p.m. Sunday. Trevor Mullins (Jamestown, N.C.; 5-3 record) was phenomenal on the mound, pitching a three-hit complete game shutout, striking out nine and issuing only one walk.

Newberry (19-23) ends its best SAC Tournament run in 10 years after surviving two elimination games to finish third in the tournament. Ernest Castellano (Homestead, Fla.; 4-4) was tagged with the loss after allowing five earned runs on seven hits in three innings.

Catawba earned 18 hits in the game, with Chris Ahearn (Charlotte, N.C.) going 4-for-5 with two runs in the game. Josh Hohn (Greensboro, N.C.) was 3-for-5 with four RBIs, while Craige Lyerly (Salisbury, N.C.) was 3-for-5 with three RBIs. Lyerly finished the game a double short of the cycle.

Catawba College's Kevin McMillan hits a two-run homer in the first inning against Newberry Saturday night.

The Catawba Indians started the scoring with three runs in the first. Brett Hatley (Salisbury, N.C.) scored on a wild pitch and Kevin McMillan (Salisbury, N.C.) blasted a two-run homerun to left center with two outs.

Catawba added two runs in the third on a pair of RBI infield singles from Hohn and Cameron White (Columbia, S.C.). The Indians added solo runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings on a Ryan Query (Kannapolis, N.C.) homerun, a Lyerly triple and a Hohn single.

The Indians added pairs of runs in the seventh and eighth. Lyerly smacked a two-run homer to center in the eighth and Hohn homered over the scoreboard in left field in the eighth.

Mullins was lights-out, allowing only seven baserunners en route to the victory.

Newberry 11, Mars Hill 8

WINGATE, N.C. - The fifth-seeded Newberry College baseball team pulled ahead early and held off a furious ninth inning charge to eliminate the third-seeded Mars Hill Lions, 11-8, at Ron Christopher Stadium on Saturday.

Newberry advances to play Catawba at 7:30 tonight for a berth in the championship series against Tusculum.

Newberry (19-22) followed a very strong pitching performance from Thomas Berryhill (Aynor, S.C.; 3-1 record). The junior allowed only three hits over eight innings, striking out seven. The Lions scored only one run until a seven-run ninth inning.

Mars Hill (27-20) allowed six runs in the first two innings, but Brian william (Orlando, Fla.) did everything in his power to keep his team in the game. Two late homeruns off of Berryhill drove home four runs, but the senior designated hitter ended the game in the on deck circle as Corry DiBiase (Orlando, Fla.) grounded into a double play to end the game.

Newberry College pitcher Thomas Berryhill follows through on a pitch against Mars Hill. Berryhill allowed three hits and struck out seven.

Newberry got on the board first, when Jovan Rohena (Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico) hit a two-out homerun to right field. The scarlet and gray put five runs on the board in the second with two outs. Jose Rosa (Keystone Heights, Fla.) singled to start the rally followed by consecutive walks by Hunter Wynn (Vero Beach, Fla.), Michael Morin (Miami, Fla.) and Derek Bley (Upper Arlington, Ohio).

Senior third baseman John Kirkland (Orlando, Fla.) smacked a three-run double to right-center, and Rohena capped the rally with an RBI single to left, giving Newberry a 6-0 lead after two innings.

Newberry scored three times in the fifth, with the rally sparked by a leadoff walk from Casio Grider (Hephzibah, Ga.). A Jim Pollack (Homer, Alaska) infield single followed by a wild pitch put runners in scoring position. Wynn plated a run with a sacrifice fly followed by RBI hits from Morin and Bley.

Mars Hill put its first run on the board in the top of the seventh on a solo homer from Williams, only the second hit Berryhill had allowed in the game to that point. Newberry answered that run with one of its own in the seventh to extend the lead back to nine runs, as Morin crossed the plate on a wild pitch.

Newberry pushed the lead to 10 runs in the eighth on a Pollack RBI single, but the Lions roared back in the ninth.

Williams hit a monstrous three-run homer to left with no outs, followed later by an RBI infield single from Matt Oleski (West Seneca, N.Y.). Tim Liberty (St. Petersburg, Fla.) hit a two-run pinch hit double and Matt Harris (Dobson, N.C.) hit an RBI single to cut the lead to three runs.

However, Newberry reliever Chauncey Mattei (Greenville, S.C.) needed only two pitches to force DiBiase into a double play to end the game and pick up his first save of the season.

Williams was Mars Hill's leading hitter, going 2-for-4 with four RBIs on two homeruns. Pollack ended the game with three consecutive hits to go 3-for-4 on the day, while Morin was 3-for-3 on the game.

Tusculum 9, Catawba 3

WINGATE, N.C. --- Top-seeded Tusculum College defeated No. 2 seed Catawba College 9-3 in Saturday's winner's bracket final to punch its ticket for the championship game of the Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Baseball Tournament. Tusculum got seven strong innings from starter Boo Morrow, while Sean Cotten and Payden Houser connected on timely home runs in the win.

The Pioneers (36-14) advance to the SAC Tournament championship game for a third straight year, which will be played at 1 p.m. Sunday afternoon at Ron Christopher Stadium at Plyler Field on the campus of Wingate University, against either, Catawba, Mars Hill College or Newberry College.

Cotten's (Mooresville, N.C.) three-run homer in the bottom of the first inning sparked the Tusculum offense. Houser (Lincolnton, N.C.) went 2-for-4, including a two-run homer in the seventh inning to put the Pioneers ahead, 9-3. Nate Grabowski (Pennellville, N.Y.) went 2-for-3 with two RBI and a run scored.

Tusculum College's Payden Houser rounds the bases after hitting a two-run home run in the seventh inning and glances at Catawba College's Craige Lyerly during Saturday's Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Baseball Tournament in Wingate, N.C. Tusculum advances to the championship game on Sunday.

Brett Hatley (Salisbury, N.C.) had a homer and two RBI to lead the Catawba attack, while Josh Hohn (Greensboro, N.C.) was 1-for-3 with a RBI for the Catawba Indians.

Tusculum got it started in the first on Cotten's three-run homer, his seventh blast of the year to make it 3-0. Catawba (32-16) got on the board in the fourth on a sacrifice fly from Hohn to cut the deficit to two.

The Pioneers answered in the bottom of the inning, scoring one run on an error while Grabowski added a RBI single to make it 5-1. A Grabowski sacrifice fly in the sixth made it 6-1.

A two-run homer from Hatley in the seventh, his sixth of the year, trimmed the deficit to three (6-3). Tusculum again had the answer, plating three runs in the bottom of the seventh. Matt Ford (Jonesborough, Tenn.) got it started with a RBI double and Houser added a two-run homer, his second of the year to give the Pioneers a 9-3 advantage.

Morrow (Lexington, Ky.) got the win, allowing three runs on six hits in seven innings of work while striking out eight, improving to 4-4 on the year. Senior Alex Fairweather (Lenoir, N.C.) took the loss, allowing five runs on seven hits in 3.1 innings to fall to 4-3 on the season.