FOREST CITY — Catawba’s Craig Brooks showed why he was the SAC Pitcher of the Year on Thursday.
Brooks (11-2) remained unbeaten against SAC opponents, firing six shutout innings as top-seeded Catawba romped 11-2 against No. 6 seed Anderson in the first round of the SAC tournament at Forest City’s McNair Field.
“We did a lot of things right,” Catawba coach Jim Gantt said.
Brooks, who leads the SAC in strikeouts, had eight more. He walked one and scattered six hits.
Catawba scored five runs in the fourth inning. Cameron Beard had a run-scoring single and Blake Houston (South Rowan) had a two-run single. Paul Kronenfeld and Keaton Hawks then delivered back-to-back, extra-base hits on 3-0 pitches.
“We had second and third two outs and no runs in, in a scoreless game, but Beard got us started, and other guys followed up,” Gantt said.
Two-run singles by Kronenfeld and T.J. Wharton made it 9-0 in the sixth, and Gantt was able to take Brooks out. If all goes well for the Indians, Brooks could come back later in the double-elimination tournament. Michael Trombino, Matt Farmakis and Charlie Weinkofsky pitched an inning each.
Beard and Jon Wallace (NW Cabarrus) had three hits each. The Indians had 15 hits. Kronenfeld had three RBIs. Julio Zubillaga (Carson) drove in a run with a sacrifice fly.
The highlight defensively for the Indians was a relay throw by Zubillaga that cut down a runner at third base.
Landon Beck (5-6) took the loss for Anderson (19-30). Brett Cash had three hits for the Trojans.
Anderson plays an elimination game tody at noon. Catawba (29-16) plays today at 3:45 against xxxx. John Tuttle (6-2) is expected to pitch for the Indians.