#17 Baseball clinches 23rd 30-win season since 2000 in road win over UNC Pembroke

Florence, S.C. —- The 17th-ranked Catawba College baseball team survived a late-game rally from 2024 NCAA Southeast Regional opponent UNC Pembroke to pull out the 7-5 win, clinching its 23rd 30-win season in the last 24 full seasons.

TEAM STATISTICS

- UNC Pembroke out-hit Catawba 10-8

- The Braves recorded both extra-base hits and the lone homer

- UNCP committed both errors in the contest

- The Catawba Indians left seven runners on base; Pembroke stranded nine

- Catawba recorded two of three stolen bases

- The Catawba Indian pitchers allowed five runs 10 hits and five walks, striking out six; the Braves' staff allowed six earned runs on eight hits and six walks, striking out five

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

- Seth Sharpe earned the win on the mound, recording four outs without allowing a run

- Hayden Simmerson recorded the final two outs, earning his league-leading 10th save of the season

- James Dunlap was 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored

- Hunter Atkins drove in two on a base hit

- Logan Dyer and Nathan Chrismon singled and scored twice

HOW IT HAPPENED

FIRST INNING

- Two walks and a wild pitch allowed Atkins' two-out single to left to score two in the top of the first

SECOND INNING

- Chrismon's bunt single loaded the bases for Catawba with nobody out in the second

- Matthew Connolly scored on a wild pitch to push the lead to 3-0

- Dylan Driver scored another on a sacrifice fly to center and Dunlap's one-out single made it a 5-0 early lead for the Catawba Indians

THIRD INNING

- Jake Bradley's two-out base hit put Pembroke on the board, cutting the hosts' deficit to four

FIFTH INNING

- Bradley followed with a two-run homer in the fifth, dwindling Catawba's lead to 5-3

SIXTH INNING

- Catawba immediately responded with two singles surrounding a hit-by-pitch to once again load the bases with nobody out in the sixth

- Dunlap brought home another run on a single to left

- A double play scored another run for Catawba, making it a four-run lead once again

NINTH INNING

- Pembroke started a ninth-inning rally, stringing together three straight singles to score a run

- Bradley produced his third run-producing base hit of the game, putting the game-tying run on base

- Simmerson forced a groundout to end the Braves' rally and extend Catawba's win streak to four

UP NEXT

- Catawba hosts Carson-Newman at Newman Park this weekend in a matchup of the top two teams in the South Atlantic Conference standings; first pitch for game one is set for 6 p.m.