April 14, 2008

Boxscore

LAURINBURG, N.C.—Sophomore Craige Lyerly (Salisbury, N.C.) drilled a grand slam to highlight a 18 hits day for the 23rd nationally ranked Catawba College baseball team coasted to a 20-1 non-conference baseball victory over St. Andrews Presbyterian College on Monday afternoon at Clark Field.

Lyerly finished with five RBI while junior Chris Ahearn (Charlotte, N.C.) ripped a team-high four hits as the Indians extended their win streak to five games improving to 33-14 overall.

Senior Michael Eastwood (Grantsboro, N.C.) was 3-for-4 with two doubles to lead the Knights (13-33) offensively. Four of St. Andrews five hits were doubles including two-base knocks by junior Kyle Norris (Laurel Hill, N.C.) and senior B.J. Horne (Hamlet, N.C.).

The Knights jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first on back-to-back doubles by Eastwood and Norris.

After two scoreless innings by St. Andrews’ freshman starter Kyle Cummings (Wake Forest, N.C.), Catawba scored its first two runs in the third on run producing hits by juniors Jerry Sands (Clayton, N.C.) and Ryan Query (Kannapolis, Md.).

Catawba broke open the game as all nine Indians batters reached base and scored in the fourth inning. The first 10 batters reached base to start the inning on five hits, four walks, and one hit by a pitch. Senior Bubba Morris (Salisbury, N.C.) smoked a two-run double in the right-center gap during the nine-run surge.

Lyerly increased the visitors lead to 15-1 with a grand slam in the fifth. Lyerly’s ninth home run of the season was drilled over the left-center wall. Catawba added five more late runs in the final two innings to increase the final margin of victory to 20-1.

Ten different Indians collected hits on Monday including three by senior Matt Kepley (Greensboro, N.C.) and two hits by Lyerly, Query, and Sands. Catawba finished with 18 hits and 11 walks on seven different St. Andrews pitchers.

Sands rounded the bases a team-high three times. Morris had three runs batted in while Query, Ahearn, and Kepley all drove in two runs.

Indians starter Matt Seabolt (Asheboro, N.C.) evened his record at 3-3 after allowing just one run on three hits over 4.0 innings. Freshman Joe Kelly (Tampa, Fla.) was credited with the rare 3.0 inning save after tossing three scoreless innings while registering a game-high four strikeouts.

Cummings (2-6) was tagged with the loss even though he only allowed two of the 20 runs scored.

St. Andrews visits tied for No. 11 nationally ranked USC Aiken on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. while Catawba entertains non-conference Lander University on Wednesday at 6:00 p.m.