Cary, N.C. —- The seventh-ranked and third-seeded Catawba College baseball team saw its record-breaking season come to a close on Wednesday at the Division II Baseball National Championships with a 17-2 loss to eighth-ranked and second-seeded Tampa in the national semifinal.
TEAM STATISTICS
- Tampa out-hit Catawba 16-8
- The Spartans recorded two of three extra-base hits
- The Catawba Indians committed four of five errors in the contest
- Catawba left nine runners on base; Tampa stranded 12
- The Spartan pitchers allowed two runs on eight hits and two walks, striking out four; the Catawba Indian staff allowed 11 earned runs on 16 hits and seven walks, striking out five
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
- Logan Dyer was 3-for-4 with an RBI
- Malachi Cloud added two hits with a run scored
- Hunter Atkins picked up two more hits, totaling 10 for the week in Cary
- Owen Robinson and Marshal Faw combined to record 1.1 shutout innings of relief
HOW IT HAPPENED
THIRD INNING
- Cameron Burleyson walked and Cloud singled to get the first two runners aboard for Catawba in the third
- Dyer scored the game's first run with an RBI base hit to left-center
- Brandon Crabtree flied out to deep right field for a sacrifice fly to score another run, with Catawba leading 2-0
- Tampa answered with an eight-spot in the bottom half of the third to gain the lead
FOURTH INNING
- The Spartans added three more runs to lead 11-2 after four innings
FIFTH INNING
- Walker Vanecek's two-out RBI base knock extended Tampa's lead to 12-2
SIXTH INNING
- The Spartans pushed the advantage to 15-2 in the sixth
EIGHTH INNING
- Tampa scored twice more in the eighth
GAME NOTES
- Catawba wraps up its season with a program-record 49 wins
- The team's fifth trip to Cary since 2012, good for fifth most appearances in the country in that span
- Catawba's five region titles since 2012 lead the region in that span; just two other programs have multiple appearances in Cary in that span (Lander, North Greenville - 2)
- Colt Wilkins set the single-season innings pitched program record with 112.1 innings pitched
- Crabtree and Nathan Chrismon set the single-season games played record, playing and starting in each of Catawba's 63 games
