Baseball Drops Double-Header to Catawba

MARS HILL, N.C. – The Lions' baseball team lost a double-header to South Atlantic Conference rival Catawba, Monday afternoon at Henderson Field. The Indians won by scores of 9-6 and 14-7, respectively. Matt Honeycutt hit three homeruns on the day. Mars Hill dropped to 7-20-1 overall and 3-12 in the league. Catawba improved to an even 16-16 on the year, 11-4 in the SAC.

Game 1: Catawba 9, Mars Hill 6

Matt Honeycutt went 3-for-4 with two homeruns to lead the Lions offensively in the first contest. Shomarii Thomas, Barrett Hennings and Cody Cline each recorded a hit and a RBI in the contest. Bryson Bailey took the loss (2-1) throwing one inning in relief.

Jackson Raper led the Indians at the plate going 1-for-2 with a homerun and three RBI. Cameron Morrison followed going 2-for-3 with a double and three RBI. DJ Laxton picked up the win (3-1) pitching three innings in relief. Hunter Shepherd threw the ninth inning and held the Lions scoreless in their final at-bat to obtain his first save on the year.

Honeycutt hit a solo homerun in the first inning to put the Lions ahead 1-0. Mars Hill then scored two runs on two hits and one Catawba error in the second inning to extend their advantage to 3-0.Honeycutt led the third inning off with his second homerun of the day to give Mars Hill a 4-0 lead.

Chance Bowden drew a bases loaded walk in the fifth inning to send Morrison to the plate and cut the Lions lead to 4-1. The Indians tied the game at 4-all in the sixth inning scoring three runs on four hits. Heath Mitchem hit a solo homerun and then Morrison hit a two-RBI double.

Mars Hill answered scoring two runs to lead 6-4 after six innings of play. Thomas drove in Brett Brubaker and then Cline singled to plate Christian Stampler.

The Indians sealed the win in the eighth inning scoring five runs on three hits highlighted by a three-run homerun from Raper.

Game 2: Catawba 14, Mars Hill 7

Honeycutt went 2-for-3 in game two with another homerun and two RBI. Travis Owens added a pair of RBI and one hit. Stampler hit a homerun while Barrett Hennings was 2-for-3 with a double and a RBI. Jared Mathewson suffered the loss (1-1) pitching four innings.

Joe Butts led the Indians at the plate going 3-for-5 with a homerun and five RBI. Mitchem went 3-for-4 with two RBI. Michael Elwell threw 5.1 innings allowing three runs on four hits to get the win (3-3) on the mound for Catawba. He struck out five batters.

Catawba scored a single run in the second inning and two runs in both the third and fourth inning to lead 5-0 before putting the game away in the fifth frame. In the Indians' fifth at-bat, Catawba scored six runs on the same number of hits and two Lion errors.

Mars Hill battled back scoring seven runs in the sixth inning on six hits highlighted by a homerun by Stampler and a two-RBI single from Owens. Butts hit a three-run homerun in the top of the seventh inning to seal the win for the Indians.

Mars Hill will host King in a single game on Wednesday, March 28. The first pitch is set for 3 p.m.