Salisbury, N.C. —- The Catawba College baseball team took both games of a doubleheader versus Coker on Saturday at Newman Park, moving to a tie atop the South Atlantic Conference standings. The Catawba Indians are 17-9 overall and 7-1 in the SAC, while the Cobras drop to 10-18 on the year and 2-9 in league play.
Catawba scored six runs in the bottom of the eighth to earn the come-from-behind victory in game one. Levi Perrell led the Catawba offense with a game-high four hits including a double and two runs scored. Cooper Bryson added three hits including a double.
The teams were scoreless through three innings, but Coker's Kody Hanna got the visitors on the board with a three-run home run to center field. Catawba got two runs back in the fourth inning, as Patrick Hogan and Bryson recorded back-to-back RBI base hits. Hanna homered again in the sixth and Adam Wilkerson hit a three-run homer later in the inning as Coker took a 7-2 lead after six.
Catawba chipped away at the lead in the seventh inning, as they scored a run on an RBI fielder's choice from Logan Rogers, who later scored himself on a throwing error. With one out and the bases loaded in the eighth, Rogers drew an RBI hit-by-pitch and Perrell and Dylan Driver scored on wild pitches to tie the game at 7.
Blake Marsh delivered the go-ahead 2-RBI single to put Catawba up 9-7, later adding an insurance run on a sac fly from Harris Jackson to push the lead to 10-3. Coker's Nick Leonard homered to lead off the ninth, but Catawba turned a double play to end the game with the bases loaded to take the game one win.
Cole Hales earned the win in his return to action, giving up a run in two innings and closing the door in the ninth with the go-ahead run on first base with one out.
Catawba needed no comeback in game two, as the home team did not trail in the seven-inning win. Perrell stole second and scored on a pair of errors before Drew Robertson added Catawba's second run of the inning on a two-out base hit to score Cameron Mills. Coker scratched a run across in both the second and third innings to tie the game at two.
With the bases loaded and two out in the third, Hogan drew a hit-by-pitch to score the go-ahead run. Driver hit an RBI double down the left field line and Mills drove in another on a fielder's choice to put Catawba up 5-2 after four innings. The Cobra bats were held silent the rest of the way.
Joseph Webb earned the win in game two, tossing 3.2 shutout innings, allowing just one hit and striking out three. Marshall Raper earned the four-out save for his second of the season.
Catawba looks to make it a clean sweep on Sunday, hosting Coker for the series finale at 1 p.m.
