West Palm Beach, Fla. — The Catawba College baseball team opened up their 2026 season with an 8-2 win on Friday night over Palm Beach Atlantic in game one of their Florida swing.
TEAM STATISTICS
- Catawba out-hit Palm Beach Atlantic 15-7
- The Sailfish recorded both errors in the contest
- The Catawba Indians had all five extra-base hits in the game
- Catawba recorded all four stolen bases in the game
- The Catawba Indian pitching staff allowed two runs on seven hits and six walks with 13 strikeouts; PBA's pitchers allowed seven earned runs on 15 hits and two walks with seven punchouts
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
- Hunter Atkins was 3-for-5 with two RBI doubles and a run scored
- Sam Hunter doubled in two hits with an RBI, two runs scored and a stolen base
- Logan Dyer also doubled on two hits with two RBI and a run scored
- Malachi Cloud singled twice in his Catawba debut with three stolen bases
- Colt Wilkins was great in his first game with Catawba, earning the win with five innings of one-run baseball with eight strikeouts
- Seth Sharpe delivered two hitless frames of relief with three Ks
HOW IT HAPPENED
FIRST INNING
- Hunter reached on an error and advanced to third before an out was made
- Atkins' RBI double scored Catawba's first run of the season
SECOND INNING
- Cloud singled to lead off the second and stole second and third
- Ty Hubbard drove in the run on a sac fly to double the lead
FOURTH INNING
- Jake Dunlap reached out to start the fourth
- Dyer's RBI double scored Dunlap
- Two base-hit bunt singles from Hubbard and Hunter pushed the Catawba lead to 4-0
- PBA scratched across its first run on an RBI single in the bottom half
SIXTH INNING
- Cloud's bunt single and a throwing error got him to second before he stole third
- Dyer's RBI single returned the Catawba Indian to four runs
SEVENTH INNING
- Hunter doubled to lead off the seventh and Atkins' second RBI double scored him
- Matthew Connolly ripped a double down the left field line to make it 7-1
- A wild pitch scored Catawba's eighth run
NINTH INNING
- The Sailfish scored another run on a base hit single
UP NEXT
- Catawba returns to action early tomorrow, traveling to Nova Southeastern for a 1 p.m. first pitch
