From staff reports
Catawba moved within one game of clinching the SAC baseball championship with a 15-4 win over Mars Hill at Newman Park on Friday.
The 26th-ranked Indians take a two-game lead into today’s doubleheader, while second-place Carson-Newman begins its three-game set with third place Lenoir-Rhyne.
Catawba (30-14, 14-5) scored in all but one inning and broke the game open with Brett Hatley’s three-run homer in the third inning that provided a 6-0 lead.
Catawba starter Blake Ketner sailed through four innings, but Austin Boehme delivered a three-run double for the Lions (29-19, 8-10) with two outs in the fifth to cut the deficit to 7-3. Those runs ended Ketner’s stretch of 20 consecutive scoreless innings.
Ketner (7-2) worked eight innings and is now 6-0 in SAC games. He struck out six and walked one.
Travis McSweeney finished up with a perfect ninth inning.
Catawba put up six insurance runs in the eighth, with four coming on a grand slam by Jerry Sands. It was the 54th homer of the junior’s career and tied him with Jimbo Davis for the all-time record at Catawba.
David Thomas and Chris Ahearn had three hits apiece. Chad Baker had two hits, including a solo homer in the first.
Today’s action starts at 2:30 p.m.
n College baseball
Brett Shore (South Rowan) had two hits in Davidson’s 9-3 loss to The Citadel on Friday.
n Boo Morrow fanned 13 batters to lead Tusculum to a 5-1 SAC victory over Wingate on Friday. Tusculum (32-11, 10-8) has won eight games in a row.
n Intimidators fall
A Kannapolis Intimidators’ comeback bid against the Hickory Crawdads fell short in the opening game of a four-game series at Fieldcrest Cannon Stadium.
The Crawdads prevailed 5-2 on Friday.
Kannapolis trailed 5-0 entering the seventh when Jim Gallagher scored on Logan Johnson’s RBI single.
In the eighth, Andrew Mead drilled his first homer of the season for the Intimidators, but Kannapolis (4-5) stranded two baserunners in the ninth.
n Prep baseball
West Davidson scored four early runs off North Rowan ace Billy Veal and won an important Central Carolina Conference game, 4-0 on Friday.
Green Dragon starter Zach Burkhart went six innings to pick up the win and he also knocked in a run. Chris Ivey had three RBIs.
West improves to 11-4 overall and 5-2 in the CCC heading into Tuesday’s game at Salisbury. The Green Dragons and Hornets are tied for second behind Ledford.
North fell to 1-14 overall and 1-7 in the CCC.
n First-place Ledford beat Lexington 9-1 on Friday for a CCC victory.
Travis Vogler pitched four hitless innings for the Panthers.
Ricky “Wild Thing” Vaughn went 3-for-4 to lead Ledford’s offense.
Sam Berrier went 2-for-2 with a triple and three RBIs. Justin Livengood went 2-for-3.
n Davie County got home runs from Garrett Benge and Jacob Vernon and battered CPC foe R.J. Reynolds 9-0 on Friday.
Benge was the winning pitcher for Davie (13-3, 4-1). Coby Seaford went 3-for-4 and scored three runs, while Zeb Cope went 2-for-4.
n A.L. Brown made seven errors and was held to three hits in a 7-2 loss to SPC leader Marvin Ridge on Friday.
Dylan May and Matt Grimes pitched well for the Wonders, but didn’t get much support.
“Same old broken record,” Brown coach Empsy Thompson said. “Just didn’t take care of the baseball.”
n In the NPC, Ian Walters pitched Mooresville to a 4-3 victory over North Iredell. Dylan West and John Crucitti had key hits for the Blue Devils.
n West Iredell used a nine-run second inning to beat Lake Norman 10-6. All nine runs were unearned.
n Junior varsity baseball
West Rowan’s jayvees defeated Northwest Cabarrus 10-8 on Friday.
Chris Neal pitched for the Falcons (9-5, 6-3 NPC) and improved to 5-0. Hayden Foster had three hits and three RBIs, and Chandler Jones had two hits and scored two runs.
n Middle school baseball
Alex Bost and Nathan Fulbright hit home runs for Erwin in a 17-2 victory over Knox on Thursday.
Bost, Fulbright, Bradley Robbins, Curtis Ward and Kyle Venrick had two hits each for the Eagles (5-0).
Bost pitched three shutout innings. Devin Lanier hurled the last two innings.
Erwin plays at Corriher-Lipe on Tuesday.
n Prep soccer
Salisbury defeated Ledford 4-0 on Friday in a game between the top two teams in the CCC.
Salisbury remained unbeaten, while Ledford lost its second conference game.
Hornets coach Matt Parrish said his team play sluggishly in its third game of the week, but the Hornets (11-0, 7-0) still shut out the Panthers and got goals from Ivy Brisbin, Jamie Dagenhart, Karen Presnell and Maria Tonseth.
Dagenhart added two assists, while Lindsey Davis and Kaitlyn Cuevas had the others. Cuevas is two shy of tying the school’s career record for assists.
n East Rowan played Statesville at home Friday night and lost 5-1.
Mustangs coach Eduel Atkins said midfielder Rachel Hardy-Simpson “had the best game by any player in my two years coaching at East Rowan.”
Hardy-Simpson scored East’s lone goal and is the Mustangs’ leading scorer this season.
East’s Sylvia Burnett, an eighth-grader eligible to play this season because of her age, had the task of guarding Division I prospect Sarah Ann Waugh.
Waugh finished with three goals and an assist.
East fell to 5-8 overall and 5-7 in the NPC.
East’s jayvees lost 2-1 after scoring first.
n Lake Norman scored with six minutes left to beat Charlotte Catholic 1-0 in a battle of two of the state’s top 3A powers.
n Prep softballEast Rowan (9-1, 8-0) stayed on top in the NPC with a 5-2 victory over Carson on Friday. East scored four runs in the second inning.
Carson fell to 7-6, 5-6.
n Carson junior Lauren Bost hit the first over-the-fence homer for the Cougars when she belted one to left-center in a loss at Mooresville.
Carson had a tough week, losing close games to West Iredell, Mooresville and East.
n College men’s tennis
Tusculum clinched a share of the SAC title with a 9-0 victory over Catawba on Friday.
Catawba is 12-10, 3-4, while the Pioneers are 16-1, 6-0.
n College women’s tennis
Tusculum defeated Catawba 7-2 in a SAC match in Greeneville, Tenn., on Friday.
Tusculum is 16-3, 5-1, while the Indians are 14-8, 4-3.
Julia McKinzie won at No. 1 singles for the Indians, while Vanessa Silva prevailed at No. 5.
n Middle school golf
Erwin defeated China Grove 168-184 at McCanless on Thursday.
Medalist James Lohr led Erwin with a 39.
Erwin scorers included Jared Hough (41), Conner Lowman (42) and   Chase Cannon (46).
Other Erwin golfers were Senator Galang (49) and Zach Jones (51).
Alex Austin led China Grove with a 43.  Christian Shuping (46), Ryan Craft (47) and  Spencer Knowles (48) had counting scores for the Red Devils.
Other China Grove golfers were Jake Barnhardt (51) and Dalton Parrot (54).
Erwin, China Grove and West Rowan play a three-team match on Monday at Foxwood.