SAC Baseball Championship Day One Recaps

No. 1 Catawba 11, No. 6 Anderson 2

FOREST CITY, N.C. - Catawba got six shutout innings from South Atlantic Conference Pitcher of the Year Craig Brooks and powered past Anderson 11-2 in the opening game of the 2014 Food Lion SAC Baseball Tournament on Thursday afternoon at McNair Field. The top-seeded Catawba Indians improve to 29-16 and will play again on Friday at 3:45. Anderson, now 19-30, will face an elimination game on Friday at noon.

Catawba broke a scoreless tie with five runs in the fourth inning, all with two out. Cameron Beard, who collected three hits in the game, drove in the first run and Blake Houston singled home two more to jump start the frame.

The Indians added to their lead in the sixth as Paul Kronenfeld and T.J. Wharton had two-run singles to push the lead to 9-0. Kronenfeld finished with three RBI. Jon Wallace joined Beard with three hits for Catawba as the Indians used a 15-hit attack in the win.

Brooks improved to 11-2 as he allowed six hits and no runs over his six innings. He walked one and fanned eight. Landon Beck (5-6) took the loss for Anderson. Brett Cash had three hits for the Trojans and Kyle Bailey added two hits.

No. 2 Wingate 8, No. 5 Tusculum 7

FOREST CITY, N.C. - Wingate rallied with a pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth inning and went on to top Tusculum 8-7 at the 2014 Food Lion SAC Baseball Tournament on Thursday afternoon at McNair Field. The second-seeded Bulldogs improve to 29-14 and will next play on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. Tusculum falls to 26-20 and faces Anderson in an elimination game on Friday at noon.

With one out in the eighth, a single by Shane Billings and a double from Justin Somers tied the game at 7-7. Eric Serra followed with a run-scoring single that proved to be the game winner.

Tusculum had jumped on top early on Trey Drewery's three-run homer in the first. Wingate later pulled even at 4-4 on a two-run single from Billings in the fourth. The Pioneers took a 7-4 lead in the seventh after a two-run single from John Topoleski, but Wingate answered those two runs in the bottom half then won it in the eighth.

Billings had three hits with two RBI to lead Wingate. Tyler Simmons drove in three on two hits. Drewery had three hits for Tusculum, while Vinny Ferrara had two hits and scored three runs.

Brandon Donahue improved to 3-1 with the win in relief. He tossed two perfect innings of relief with three strikeouts. Clark Ayers (3-3) took the loss in relief for Tusculum.

No. 3 Lincoln Memorial 7, No. 4 Newberry 2

FOREST CITY, N.C. - Third-seeded Lincoln Memorial got a complete game from Logan Sawyer in posting a 7-2 win over Newberry at the 2014 Food Lion SAC Baseball Tournament on Thursday night at McNair Field. The Railsplitters improve to 27-15-1 and face #2-seed Wingate in their next game on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. The Wolves fall to 29-22 and will face elimination against top-seeded Catawba on Friday afternoon at 3:45 p.m.

Sawyer threw 132 pitches in recording the win to improve to 7-4. He allowed two runs, one earned, with three walks and 10 strikeouts. Wesley Camp (8-3) kept Newberry within striking distance before LMU broke the game open with a four-run eighth.

Jonathan Lowe went 4-for-5 and drove in a pair of runs for Lincoln Memorial. Scott Miller, Kelvin Brito and Kyle Floyd also had a pair of hits in the win. Ryan Cranmer collected two hits for Newberry.