Salisbury, N.C. — The fourth-ranked and top-seeded Catawba College baseball team rode an eight-inning outing from All-American starting pitcher Payne Stolsworth to take the opening game of the Southeast Super Regional over 16th-ranked Lenoir-Rhyne, moving a win away from the Division II National Championships.
TEAM STATISTICS
- Catawba out-hit Lenoir-Rhyne 9-7
- The Catawba Indians recorded five of six extra-base hits in the ballgame, while LR had the lone homer
- Both teams committed an error
- Catawba left four runners on base; the Bears stranded six
- Both teams recorded a stolen base
- The Catawba Indian pitchers allowed three runs on seven hits and two walks, striking out five; Lenoir-Rhyne's staff allowed four earned runs on nine hits and on walks, striking out six
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
- Stolsworth was great in the win, tossing eight innings of three-run baseball on just five hits, striking out four
- Hayden Simmerson closed the door with a scoreless ninth
- Cole Hales was 2-for-4 with a double with an RBI and two runs scored
- Dylan Driver doubled and scored twice
- James Dunlap, Cooper Bryson and Matthew Connolly all doubled as well
HOW IT HAPPENED
FIRST INNING
- Driver doubled to lead off the home half of the first
- Dunlap and Sam Hunter's groundouts to the right side moved Driver to third and scored him to take an early lead
THIRD INNING
- Mackenzie Wainwright sent his 25th home run of the season on a two-run shot in the third to take a 2-1 lead
FOURTH INNING
- Dunlap's line drive squeezed back a diving LR outfielder for a leadoff double to start the fourth
- Hunter laid down a sac bunt and reached when the throw sailed over first base to score the runner from second to tie the game
- Hales mashed an RBI double off the wall in left-center to score Hunter to take a 3-2 lead
- Two groundouts moved Hales to third and home, capped off by Nathan Chrismon's RBI groundout
- Bryson and Connolly added back-to-back opposite-field doubles to take on another run, as Catawba took a 5-2 lead after the four-run frame
FIFTH INNING
- Driver walked to lead off the fifth and two bunts moved him to third
- He scored on a wild pitch to extend the lead to 6-2
SIXTH INNING
- Cole Stanford logged a two-out RBI single up the middle to cut LR's deficit to three runs
EIGHTH INNING
- Hales and Hunter Atkins recorded back-to–back base hits to put runners on the corners
- Bryson's sac fly pushed the Catawba lead to 7-3
NINTH INNING
- After two quick outs to start the ninth, the Bears recorded two singles off of Simmerson, as Winwright loomed as the tying run on deck
- Simmerson closed the door before then, however, striking out the LR pinch-hitter
GAME NOTES
- Catawba's 46th win of the season, matching their total from 2024 and moving them a win away from matching the single-season record
- The Catawba Indians' 16th-straight victory is also one shy of the program-record mark
- Catawba stands one win away from the program's fifth region title and trip to the DII National Championships, all coming since 2012
- Stolsworth's 12th win of the season, tying Craig Brooks for second in a single season in program history; his 23rd win of his career in just two seasons ties him for 14th all time with Brooks and two others
UP NEXT
- Catawba and Lenoir-Rhyne return to Newman Park for Game Two of the Southeast Super Regional on Friday; first pitch is again set for 6 p.m.
