Seventh-inning rally pushes #3 Baseball to win at PBA

West Palm Beach, Fla. —- The 3rd-ranked Catawba College baseball team utilized a five-run seventh inning to turn a late-inning deficit into a 9-5 victory on the road at Palm Beach Atlantic on Monday night to close the team's season-opening Florida trip.

TEAM STATISTICS

- Palm Beach Atlantic out-hit Catawba 9-8

- Both teams recorded two extra-base hits; the Catawba Indians had the lone homer

- Catawba committed two of three errors on the night

- The Sailfish stranded five runners while the Catawba Indians left six on base

- Catawba's pitchers allowed four earned runs on nine hits and two walks, striking out 11, while PBA's staff allowed six earned runs on eight hits and five walks, striking out 10

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

- Sean Shelly launched his first homer as a Catawba Indian with a grand slam

- James Dunlap singles, walked, stole a base and scored twice

- Ty Hubbard also notched a base hit with a walk and two runs scored

- Matthew Connolly doubled, walked twice and scored

- Brandon Rodgers earned the win 3.1 shutout innings in relief, allowing just two hits and striking out two

HOW IT HAPPENED

FOURTH INNING

- Singles from Dunlap and Hubbard preceded Parker Styborski's hit-by-pitch to lad the bases with one out in the fourth for Catawba

- Shelly detonated for a scoreless tie-breaking grand slam, his first Catawba homer

- An error and a double put runners on second and third with nobody out for the Sailfish in the bottom half

- Chris Amparo's two-RBI single cut Catawba's lead in half, 4-2

FIFTH INNING

- Two walks got two more runners aboard for PBA in the fifth

- Ben Green's RBI single brough the Sailfish within a run before Matthew Faranda's two-run double made it a 5-4 lead for PBA

SEVENTH INNING

- Connolly and Nathan Chrismon walked to lead off the seventh for the Catawba Indians

- Two wild pitches allowed both runners to advance 180 feet, as Connolly scored the tying run

- Sam Hunter's RBI sac fly broke the 5-5 tie, bringing in Chrismon home from third

- With the bases empty and two away, Dunlap walked, Hunter Atkins singled and Hubbard walked to load the bases once again

- A costly error from the Sailfish scored all three runners to extend Catawba's lead to 9-5

GAME NOTES

- Shelly is 4-for-7 with a double, a homer and four RBI since getting the start for the Barry game on Sunday

- Hayden Simmerson made his first start of the season, allowing four earned runs on six hits and two walks, striking out eight

- Braeden Major made his Catawba debut in relief in the sixth

- Rodgers has allowed just three hits in 5.1 shutout innings with five punchouts across two appearances so far this season

- Catawba goes 2-2 on the Florida trip, their third time earning multiple wins on the trip since 2016

- Jim Gantt's 992nd career win; Catawba must go 8-0 over its eight-game homestand for Gantt to reach the 1,000-win milestone at Newman Park before the team's nine-game road trip Feb. 18 - Mar. 4

UP NEXT

- Catawba returns to Newman Park for the first time in 2025 this weekend, hosting Shippensburg for a three-game set Friday through Sunday

- First pitch on Friday is set for 1 p.m.