Trojans earn split at No. 17 Catawba

By News-Argus Staff
Published in Sports on April 13, 2005 1:58 PM

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SALISBURY -- Seventeenth-ranked Catawba split a doubleheader with visiting Mount Olive in baseball action on Tuesday afternoon at Newman Park. The Trojans claimed the opener 3-2, while the Indians earned a 6-4 win in the nightcap.

The teams combined for seven errors in the opener and the miscues played heavily in the scoring.

Ricky Davis led off the game with a double and later scored after a pair of Catawba errors. David Thomas led off the Indian first with a double and scored on a single by Matt Baker. Matt Smith, who reached on an error, put the Tribe up 2-1 as he scored when Nick Lefko drew a bases-loaded walk with two outs.

The Trojans (23-23) tied the game in the second as Anthony Williams plated Dustin Richardson with a sacrifice fly.

Both pitchers worked out of trouble until the seventh when Mount Olive scored the winning run. Lance Martinled off with a single, moved to second on a sacrifice and scored on a two-out error off the bat of Jordan Arnold.

Donald Huff picked up the win for the Trojans as he allowed one earned run off five hits in the complete game.

Tim Smith tossed a complete game in a losing effort. He also allowed just a single earned run and allowed six hits.

Baker delivered a three-run homer for Catawba (30-16) in the first inning of game two to put the Tribe up 3-0. The blast helped Baker tie the school mark with 163 career RBI.

Mount Olive answered with three of its own in the second. Richardson singled home Nick Paniccia, who had doubled, Santos Estremera tripled him home and scored on a groundout by Martin.

A sacrifice fly by Zach Evans gave Catawba a 4-3 lead in the fourth, but Estremera hit a sacrifice fly for the Trojans in the sixth to tie the score. Catawba would score the winning run as Matt Smith's fly to right with two outs fell for a hit.

Bubba Morris added a RBI single for insurance.

Evans earned the win in relief for Catawba, while Bryan Corbett took the loss for Mount Olive. Paniccia and Josh Carter had two hits for the Trojans in game two. Estremera had two hits in game one.

No Catawba player had two hits in the nightcap.