Cary, N.C. —- The 9th-ranked and third-seed Catawba College baseball team utilized a second-straight offensive explosion to advance to the national semifinals of the Division II Baseball National Championships on Wednesday with an 18-1 win over 21st-ranked and sixth-seed Southern New Hampshire.
TEAM STATISTICS
- Catawba out-hit Southern New Hampshire 21-4
- Both teams recorded an extra-base hit in the form of a home run
- The Penmen left six runners on base, while the Catawba Indians stranded eight
- Both teams committed an error in the game
- Catawba recorded all three stolen bases on the afternoon
- The Catawba Indian pitchers allowed one earned run on four hits and five walks, striking out five; SNHU's staff allowed 18 earned runs on 21 hits and five walks, striking out four
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
- Dylan Driver was 4-for-6 with a homer, four RBI and three runs scored
- Sam Hunter added a four-hit effort with two RBI and four runs scored
- Drew Robertson also went 4-for-5 with five RBI and a run scored
- Levi Perrell was 3-for-6 with a run driven in and two runs scored
- Logan Rogers and Cooper Bryson also pitched in multi-hit games
- Casey Gouge earned the win and had a no-hitter going into the sixth inning, finishing the day with a stellar shutout seven innings with two hits allowed and five strikeouts
HOW IT HAPPENED
FIRST INNING
- Perrell led the bottom half of the first with a single back up the middle
- Hunter singled to left center and advanced to second on the throw, leaving runners at second and third with one out
- Bo Rusher's RBI groundout got Catawba on the board in the opening frame
- Robertson followed with a two-RBI single to left to score Hunter
SECOND INNING
- Bryson worked a lead-off walk to start the second
- Driver's two-out single moved the runner into scoring position for Hunter, who threaded the right side with another two-out RBI, as Catawba led 3-0
- Rusher's walk loaded the bases, which allowed Cole Hales' RBI hit-by-pitch to score another run
- With a full count and two outs, Robertson roped a single to center field to plate two more runs, leading 6-0
THIRD INNING
- Bryson got aboard again to lead off the third with a base hit through the right side
- Perrell's bunt single moved the runner into scoring position; Driver's single scored Ty Hubbard from second
- Hunter kept the train moving with an RBI single through the left side, leading 8-0
- An infield single from Hales and Robertson's opposite field base hit plated two more runs
FOURTH INNING
- Rogers and Bryson led the inning off with a pair of singles
- A tag up on a flyout and a stolen base put two runners in scoring position for Driver, who drove in two more on a two-out single to center field to make it a 12-0 Catawba lead
SEVENTH INNING
- Driver smashed a leadoff homer to left field to start the scoring in the seventh
- A walk loaded the bases with still nobody out
- Robertson and Rogers recorded back-to-back RBI singles to take a 15-0 lead
- Colby Taylor's opposite field base hit plated another run before Zeb Burns' RBI fielder's choice and another RBI single from Perrell capped the scoring for Catawba at 18-0
NINTH INNING
- SNHU got on the board with a solo homer from Jake Pisano
GAME NOTES
- Perrell is batting .491 with 24 runs scored this season in the first inning
- The team entered the game averaging nearly three two-out RBI per game, they drove in nine with two outs on Wednesday
- This postseason, Gouge has throw 13 shutout innings allowing just four hits and striking out nine; he also earned the win in Catawba's winner-take-all win over Young Harris in the Southeast Regional
- Catawba has scored 18 runs in the first three innings between Tuesday and Wednesday's World Series games
- Second time in program history advancing to the national semifinal; the Catawba Indians were national runners-up in 2015
- Third 20-plus hit game for Catawba this season, the Catawba Indians recorded 23 hits in the 22-0 win at Anderson in April and 20 hits in the series-opening 10-0 win at Columbus State in February
HEAR FROM COACH GANTT
- "The difference in the game right out of the gate was Casey Gouge. If you've got a no-hitter going in the game, you've got a chance. Our bats were good today early and we were able to score some runs, but the difference in this game was Casey, by far."
HEAR FROM DYLAN DRIVER
- "[Stacking up base hits] is our plan at the plate. Being able to do that everyday is all we can ask for… [Sunday] was a day where we kinda got 'baseball'ed', we were hitting the ball hard and it found somebody, and we were able to get back to it today."
HEAR FROM CASEY GOUGE
- "More or less, it starts with the hitters. When you look and you've got two, four and then four in the first three innings, all of the sudden, you're up 10-0 and you know you can just go out there and be relaxed. I just knew we had to be better for our guys so we can get back to the next day and reset."
UP NEXT
- Catawba turns to face top-ranked and second-seed Tampa in a rematch of the 2015 national title game on Thursday in the national semifinal. First pitch from the USA Baseball Training Complex is set for 45 minutes after the opening game, which is estimated to be 2:15 p.m.
