Catawba, Tusculum Reach Final Day of NCAA Baseball Regional

Tusculum and Catawba were both in action on Saturday at the NCAA Division II Baseball Championship Southeast Regional.  Click here for recaps of each game.

Catawba Advances to Final Day of NCAA Baseball Region Championship by Defeating Armstrong

MOUNT OLIVE, N.C. -- Catawba got another pitching gem to avoid elimination at the 2012 NCAA II Southeast Region Baseball Tournament with an 11-0 victory over seventh-ranked Armstrong on Saturday afternoon at Scarborough Field. 

Saturday it was junior Ross Whitley (Mooresville, NC/Lake Norman HS) who threw a three-hit shutout and posted a career-high 14 strikeouts to send the 21st-ranked Catawba Indians into the final day of the tournament on Sunday.

Catawba (41-15), seeded-fifth, will face Tusculum in another elimination game on Sunday.  The Indians will have to beat the second-seeded Pioneers and then either Tusculum again or Francis Marion, if the Patriots defeat Tusculum in the final game on Saturday.  Armstrong, who was seeded third, finishes its season at 41-16.

Whitley got an early lead on a two-run single by Garrett Furr (Gold Hill, NC/Mt. Pleasant HS) in the top of the first and never let the Pirates in the game.  Brett Underwood (Greensboro, NC/SW Guilford HS) doubled home two more runs in the third with two outs for a 4-0 Catawba lead.

Armstrong got its first baserunner in the third on a walk by Will Thomas and then put two runners on after a single by Casey Maloney.  Whitley worked out of trouble with a fly out and turned it back to the Catawba bats that pounded out 15 hits on the afternoon.

Julio Zubillaga (China Grove, NC/Carson HS) added two more runs for the Indians with a single in the fifth and an error by the Pirates in the sixth upped the margin to 7-0.  All doubt on the outcome was removed in the seventh when Keaton Hawks (Lexington, NC/E. Davidson HS) cleared the bases with a three-run triple for a 10-0 edge.  Chris Dula (Troutman, NC/S. Iredell HS) capped the scoring as he followed Hawks' hit with a single.

Whitley took a one-hitter into the seventh before allowing a leadoff single to Chris Zittrouer and a two-hit to Thomas.  He once again got a fly ball to end the frame.  The junior walked two and hit a batter.

Furr and Cameron Beard (Conover, NC/Bunker Hill HS) each collected three hits for the Indians.  Furr drove in two and scored twice.  Ryan Bostian (Kannapolis, NC/S. Rowan HS/Montreat) and Ethan Satterfield (Madison, NC/McMichael HS) each had two hits and scored twice.  Zubillaga joined the multi-hit efforts with a pair of hits and two RBI.

- Courtesy Catawba Media Relations

Tusculum Falls to Francis Marion, Still Alive for Regional Title

MOUNT OLIVE, N.C. -- A four-run sixth inning propelled No. 6 Francis Marion University to a 9-3 victory over No. 2 Tusculum College Saturday night at the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional at Scarborough Field.

With the win, the fourth-seeded Patriots (40-17) advance to Sunday's regional championship game at 5:00 p.m. The second-seeded Pioneers (48-9) will face fifth-seeded Catawba (40-15) at 1:00 p.m. Sunday for the right to face Francis Marion in the finals. The regional champion will earn a berth in the Division II World Series which begins May 26.

Playing in their third game in less than 24 hours, the Patriots used a 14-hit attack and took advantage of six Pioneer errors to erase a 3-2 sixth-inning deficit. Tusculum had defeated Francis Marion 7-2 in a game that ended at 2:15 a.m. Saturday, but the Patriots came back to defeat Lander 10-3 Saturday afternoon and the Pioneers Saturday night to move into the championship game.

Don Sandifer (1-4) allowed 11 hits in seven innings for the Patriots, but struck out eight and worked out of several jams to earn his first win of the season. All nine starters had at least one hit for Francis Marion, led by Michael Wilson who went 3-for-5 with three runs scored and two runs batted in.

Cody Coffman led the Pioneers at the plate, going 3-for-5 with a two-run triple in the fifth inning that gave Tusculum a 3-2 lead. Aaron Guinn and Cade Stallings each went 2-for-5 for the Pioneers, who left 11 runners on base. The loss snapped a 16-game winning streak in road/neutral games for the Pioneers, who last lost away from Greeneville on March 10 at Lincoln Memorial by a score of 8-7.

"You can't make as many mistakes as we did tonight against a quality team like Francis Marion and expect to be successful," said Pioneer head coach Doug Jones. "We gave away too many free bases. We did not make good adjustments at the plate against their pitchers as they had control of all three pitches. We were outplayed in every aspect of the game. We have to regroup and be ready to play a very good Catawba club and hopefully have a rematch with Francis Marion and a chance to go to Cary."

The Patriots scored a run in the top of the first inning off Pioneer starter Adam Sigmon (8-2). Wilson led off with a single, moved to third on a throwing error and scored on a fielder's choice grounder off the bat of Buddy Sosnoskie.

Tusculum mounted a two-out rally in the second on a walk to Heath Comerford and a single by Nate Reid, but Sandifer came up with a strikeout to end the inning.

In the fourth, the Patriots extended their lead to 2-0 as Tyler Boyd singled with one out, stole second and scored on an RBI single by Rhodes Dickerson.

The Pioneers broke through in the fifth with three runs to take a 3-2 lead. Tripper Crisson led off with a single, moved to second on a sacrifice by Lukas Graves and scored on a single by Guinn.

Stallings followed with a double to put runners at second and third with one out, and with two outs Coffman delivered a triple to center field on a 1-2 pitch to bring home Stallings and Guinn and give the Pioneers their first lead of the night at 3-2.

The Patriots came right back with four runs in the top of the sixth to regain the lead at 6-3. Brian Paulhus tied the game with a one-out RBI double, and with two outs Wilson delivered a two-run single and Brock McCallister added an RBI single to give the Patriots a three-run advantage and chase Sigmon from the mound.

Tusculum attempted to come back in the bottom of the frame, putting runners at second and third with one out, but Sandifer came through with back-to-back strikeouts to end the threat.

The Pioneers again mounted a rally in the seventh, but Sandifer registered his eighth strikeout of the evening with two on and two out to keep the Patriot lead at 6-3.

Francis Marion took advantage of three Tusculum errors to score three insurance runs in the eighth for a 9-3 lead. With two outs and no one on, Wilson singled and later scored on an error, Sosnoskie added an RBI single and Jarrod Reed scored on yet another error.

Sigmon worked 5 2/3 innings for the Pioneers, allowing 10 hits and six runs (four earned) with three strikeouts and two walks. Michael Franklin tossed two innings of relief, giving up four hits and three runs (two earned), with Dylan Hochevar and John Clarke finishing up with scoreless outings.

The Pioneers will face Catawba for the fifth time this season and second time during the regional on Sunday. The Indians eliminated Armstrong Atlantic with an 11-0 victory behind 14 strikeouts by Ross Whitley.

- Courtesy Tusculum Media Relations

Tusculum Advances with Win over Francis Marion

MOUNT OLIVE, N.C. -- Aaron Guinn finished 4-for-5 and Alexi Colon hit two home runs as No. 2 Tusculum College defeated No. 6 Francis Marion University 7-2 in an NCAA Division II Southeast Regional game at Scarborough Field early Saturday morning.

The start time of the game was pushed back over 4 1/2 hours due to schedule changes brought about by Thursday's rain. First pitch came at 11:40 p.m. Friday night and the final out was recorded at 2:15 a.m. local time.

With the win, the second-seeded Pioneers (48-8) are the lone unbeaten team in the six-team regional. Tusculum will play Saturday night at 8:00 p.m. against the winner of the 1:00 game between Lander and Francis Marion (38-17), with a berth in the region championship game awaiting.

Taylor Rakes (10-1) went the distance and struck out a career-high 10 batters for the Pioneers. He scattered 10 hits and allowed just one earned run while throwing 135 pitches.

Guinn, who delivered the game-winning single in the eighth inning of the Pioneers' 4-3 win over Catawba 12 hours earlier, drove in a pair of runs for the Pioneers in his fourth four-hit game of the season. Colon hit solo home runs in the fifth and ninth innings and Cody Coffman was 3-for-5 with a seventh-inning solo home run as part of a 14-hit attack.

With his two home runs, Colon has 33 career roundtrippers in just two seasons at Tusculum, two shy of the program record of 35 set by Sean Cotten (2008-11). His 21 home runs this season are tied for the second-most in a single season in school history with Guy O'Connell (2003), behind the 23 blasts hit by Jared Richmond in 2010. It was Colon's fifth two-homer game of the season and seventh of his career.

The Pioneers opened the game with three straight singles against Patriots starter Matt Broderick, but were unable to get on the scoreboard as Lukas Graves was thrown out at the plate attempting to score on a hit by Guinn.

"Our approach at the plate was good tonight," said Tusculum head coach Doug Jones.  "We executed throughout the game, especially in the first couple innings and I felt that set the tone for us.  We gained confidence at the plate as the game went on and Guinn's effort was outstanding.  Alexi Colon came through with a pair of big homers for us tonight, while Nate Reid continued to shine for us as his hard work during our three-week layoff at the end of the season is providing divedends."

Tusculum got on the board with two runs in the top of the second, as back-to-back singles by Heath Comerford and Nate Reid were followed by a walk to Tripper Crisson to load the bases with one out. Graves hit into a force out to plate Comerford with the first run, and Guinn singled home Reid to push the Pioneers on top 2-0.

In the third, the Pioneers added a run against reliever Jarrott Hooks to take a 3-0 lead. Colon walked, moved to third on a single by Coffman and scored on a forceout by Carlos Santana.

The Patriots scored twice in the fourth with two outs, on an RBI single by Tyler Boyd and an error, but the Pioneers got the run right back in the fifth on a leadoff home run by Colon, his 20th of the season, to take a 4-2 lead.

Tusculum tacked on another run in the sixth as Guinn came through with his fourth hit of the game, an RBI single with two outs that brought home Graves for a 5-2 Pioneer lead.

Coffman hit his eighth home run of the season with one out in the seventh to extend the Tusculum lead to 6-2, and Colon connected for his second of the game with one out in the ninth off reliever Justin Turbeville to close out the scoring.

"I thought Taylor competed well tonight," Jones added.  "He battled through his first three innings where he had some control issues.  But I felt as the game progressed, he got better and gave us a solid performance on the mound."

Jarrod Reed and Jacob Golliday had two hits apiece for the Patriots, who had opened the tournament with an 11-2 victory over Armstrong Atlantic on Thursday afternoon.

Broderick (8-3) worked two innings for the Patriots, giving up six hits and two earned runs. Hooks was touched for seven hits and four runs in five innings of relief, while Turbeville allowed just the solo homer to Colon in his two innings of work.

- Courtesy Tusculum Media Relations