Baseball Drops Game One at Catawba

SALISBURY, N.C. - Catawba opened a three-game South Atlantic Conference baseball series against Mars Hill with a 4-1 win over the Lions on Friday night at Newman Park.  The Catawba Indians improve to 22-13 overall and 15-6 in the SAC, while the Lions fall to 16-20 and 9-10.

Catawba starter Craig Brooks took a no-hitter into the seventh inning claiming his eighth straight decision to improve to 8-2.  He finished allowing just one run off two hits over eight innings and struck out 11 batters.  Ryan McClintock posted his seventh save with a scoreless ninth.

Brooks had issued just three walks over the first six innings before Dalton Eisenbath homered to start the seventh. 

Catawba used back-to-back doubles by Ethan Satterfield and Julio Zubillaga to go on top 1-0 in the second inning.  The Indians put the first two men on in the fourth, but failed to score then added some insurance in the sixth.

After a walk and a double, Satterfield tripled in two runs.  Zubillaga plated Satterfield for the second time on the night with a ground ball to short to give Catawba a 4-0 lead. 

Hunter Boydston took the loss for Mars Hill, falling to 1-2.  He allowed all four runs on eight hits over five and a third innings.  Lion pitching allowed a dozen hits to Catawba, but helped strand nine runners.

Keaton Hawks  picked up three of the 12 Catawba hits.  Satterfield had two hits and two RBI.  Cameron Beard and Jon Wallace also had two hits for the Indians.

Eisenbath had two of the three Mars Hill hits.  Jacob Rand had a single in the seventh, but was eventually stranded at third.

The two teams are set to complete the weekend series with a doubleheader on Saturday at 1 p.m.