#11 Baseball survives slugfest at Georgia College

Milledgeville, Ga. —- The 11th-ranked Catawba College baseball team earned a midweek win in a 2024 Southeast Super Regional rematch at Georgia College on Tuesday, leaving the game-tying run at third base in non-conference baseball action.

TEAM STATISTICS

- Georgia College out-hit Catawba 17-12

- The Bobcats recorded six of 10 extra-base hits in the game; the Catawba Indians had three of four home runs

- GCSU committed all four errors in the game

- Georgia College left seven runners on base; Catawba stranded eight

- The Catawba Indians stole all four bases on the night

- The Bobcat pitchers allowed nine earned runs on 12 hits and seven walks, striking out six; Catawba's staff allowed 11 runs on 17 hits and three walks, striking out six

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

- Matthew Connolly was 2-for-3 with a homer, a double, two RBI and three runs scored

- Sean Shelly went 2-for-5 with a homer and three RBI

- Dylan Driver added two hits with a homer in his fourth straight game, driving in two

- James Dunlap and Sam Hunter chipped in multi-hit games

- Joe Burleyson earned his first career win on the mound; Hayden Simmerson earned the six-out save

HOW IT HAPPENED

SECOND INNING

- Shelly started the scoring with a solo homer to left in the second

- Connolly's double two batters later scored another runner to double the lead

- Dunlap's RBI groundout brought the lead up to three before Driver's two-out RBI single that gave Catawba an early 4-0 lead

- Georgia College got a run back on a two-out solo homer in the bottom half

FOURTH INNING

- Hunter singled up the middle in the fourth to score another run for Catawba

- A throwing error and a double steal pushed the Catawba lead to 7-1

- An RBI double and a sac fly for the Bobcats in the bottom half kept the game within reach at 7-3

FIFTH INNING

- Connolly lifted his first Catawba home run to left field with two outs in the fifth

- GCSU added a five-spot in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game at 8

SIXTH INNING

- Driver took the lead back in the sixth with a leadoff homer, his fifth in four games

- Four singles in the bottom half gave GCSU two more runs to take their first lead of the game, 10-9

SEVENTH INNING

- A Georgia College error extended the seventh inning and Dunlap made it hurt, depositing a two-out RBI single to right field to tie the game at 10

EIGHTH INNING

- Two leadoff singles and a double steal put runners on second and third with one out for Catawba in the eighth

- Shelly ripped a two-RBI single through the left side to take the lead 12-10

NINTH INNING

- A leadoff single and a ball lost in the lights put the tying run at second base with no outs in the ninth for GCSU

- Simmerson retired the next three batters to leave the tying run 90 feet away and claim Catawba's third straight midweek road win

UP NEXT

- Catawba returns to Newman Park for the first time in March, starting on Friday with game one of a three-game set with Coker to resume South Atlantic Conference play; first pitch is set for 6 p.m.