Third-seeded Catawba was beaten by sixth-seeded Lenoir-Rhyne 12-9 at Newman Park. The Tribe snoozed through the first seven innings, then put together a nine-run rally in the eighth that fell just short.

“It drives ya crazy,” said Gantt. “I don’t understand why we can’t get excited about the SAC Tournament, playing right here in front of our home fans. No excuses, we just didn’t get the job done.”

Catawba (30-20) finally did get excited in the eighth and made things exciting for Lenoir-Rhyne starter Israel Campbell, who had been umm-umm good through seven shutout innings.

Blair Reynolds led off the eighth with a ringing double on a 3-2 pitch for only the Tribe’s third hit. Campbell fanned Scott Searles for the first out, but then came consecutive base hits by Israel Morrow, Dennis Love, Travis Goins and Curt Motsinger. Now it was 12-3, with two on.

The next batter, Adam Patterson, lofted a foul pop toward the visitors dugout that Bear catcher Jason Sparger somehow caught on his knees as he slid into the bricks. It was a huge out as it turned out and enabled former North Rowan star Sparger to go one up in his friendly war of words with rival catcher and former West Rowan star Patterson that had carried on all afternoon.

“When it was 12-0, I was asking Adam to tell me what pitch was coming,” laughed Sparger. “I said, ‘How about one for old times sake?’ Adam said, ‘Shoot, you’re ahead, how about wrapping one up for me.’ ”

But things were about to get serious, because Campbell just couldn’t get that third out in the eighth. Chad Hill doubled and it was 12-4. Todd Smith singled for 12-5. Then Reynolds yanked a three-run bomb to left just like the ones he used to hit for South Stokes High against South Rowan. Now, it was 12-8 and Campbell (7-3) was back on the shelf.

Two relievers couldn’t get that third out, either. Searles walked, Morrow singled and Love and SACPlayer of the Week Goins, both lefty hitters, battled lefty hurler David Porter for walks. Now it was 12-9 and the bases were filled for the potential go-ahead run, Motsinger, who has 10 homers this season.

Lenoir-Rhyne (28-19) sent its fourth pitcher of the inning, Michael Clontz, to the mound to face him. Motsinger took a mighty swing and made solid contact, but just got under the ball. His drive died in center fielder Wes Tucker’s glove 10 feet or so in front of the fence to end the marathon frame.

“Curt’s been hot,” said Gantt. “He’s the guy we wanted up there. And he just missed it.”

And Sparger breathed a sigh of relief.

“Campbell was throwing so good, but in the eighth he got the ball up and they hit it,”he said. “Catawba wont quit and no lead is ever safe in their ballpark. I’ve seen stranger things happen. Thank goodness, we held on.”

Lenoir-Rhyne’s six-run second inning was a nightmare for Tribe starter Brad Esarey (5-6). Sparger’s RBI single made it 1-0, then two bases-loaded walks and a hit batsman with the sacks full made it 4-0. Then a grounder trickled through short for two runs and Catawba was in a 6-0 pit.

“Like the saying goes,” said Gantt, “you can’t win a ballgame in the second inning, but you sure can lose it. That’s how it was today. I’m proud of the way we battled back at the end, but our pitching just wasn’t good enough to win. It was the same old story.”

The Bears got two-run homers from Chip Bradford and former Statesville star William Combs as they built that huge lead.

The Bears, who lost two of three to Catawba in the regular season, advance to face No. 2 Carson-Newman in a winners bracket game at Newman Park at 2 p.m.

Catawba tried to stave off elimination in a 10 a.m. game at North Rowan High this morning against Mars Hill. If the Tribe wins that one, it will play a losers bracket game at 6 tonight at Newman against Tusculum or Gardner-Webb.

No. 4 Gardner-Webb 8, No. 5 Presbyterian 5

Senior Sammy Pruett hit a two-out grand slam in the bottom of the ninth inning Wednesday to lift the Bulldogs to a win over Presbyterian in the first round matchup.

Pruett gave Gardner-Webb (36-17) a 1-0 lead in the first with an RBI single, but the Blue Hose (37-19) rallied for four runs in the top of the fifth. Chris Turco’s sac fly tied the game before an error brought home the other three runs.

The Bulldogs advanced to today’s matchup with Tusculum, the No. 8 seed that knocked off No. 1 Wingate on Tuesday. Presbyterian fell to the loser bracket and played Wingate early this afternoon.

No. 2 Carson-Newman 5, No. 7 Mars Hill 4

Aaron Shaffer was 2-for-3 with an RBI and reliever John Butler earned his eighth save of the season as Carson-Newman held on for a first-round win.

TheEagles (27-18) scored three runs in the first inning on a hit, error and three walks. Carson-Newman built a 4-0 lead off another error in the third inning before Mars Hill rebounded.

The Lions (11-30-1) cut the lead in half in the fourth inning with a Duke Powell RBI single and a C-N balk. After another Eagle run in the bottom of the fourth, Mars Hill cut the lead to 5-4 on Logan Flynn’s single in the bottom of the ninth with two outs. Butler came in with the go-ahead run on first and induced a game-ending grounder.