Baseball tops Barton on road, extends winning streak to four

Wilson, N.C. —- The Catawba College baseball team extended their winning streak to four games on Tuesday, defeating Barton on the road 12-9 to split the season series with the Bulldogs. The Catawba Indians improve to 23-14 on the year, while Barton drops to 18-14 on the season.

Dylan Driver led Catawba offensively, going 2-for-4 with a homer, three RBI and three runs scored. Cameron Mills recorded a team-high three hits with three more runs scored. Every spot in the order recorded a hit for Catawba and six Indians drove in a run. John McNamee went for three hits and a homer for Barton.

Catawba again put up multiple runs in the first inning, where they are out-scoring their opponents 36-12 this season. JR Lingerfelt opened up the scoring with an RBI fielder's choice before Jackson Price added two more on a single to center. The Catawba Indians extended their lead in the third when Harris Jackson and Drew Robertson recorded back-to-back RBI base hits.

McNamee hit a two-run single in the bottom of the third to cut Barton's deficit to 5-3, but Catawba answered with three more runs in the fourth to take an 8-3 lead. The Bulldogs scored four unanswered runs to cut Catawba's lead to a single run, capped by Joshua Hoffman's two-run homer in the fifth. 

Driver's three-run homer to left field in the seventh helped push Catawba's lead back to four runs before Lingerfelt drove another run home to extend their lead to 12-7. Barton scored a pair of runs in the ninth, but Robbie Cowie struck out the tying run to end the game.

Cole Hales got credit for the win, improving to 3-0 on the season. Joseph Webb provided quality relief, not allowing a hit until his fourth inning of work and striking out three.

Catawba looks to tie up another season series on the road tomorrow, traveling to Belmont Abbey for a 5 p.m. start.