Catawba baseball co-favorite
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, January 30, 2013
From staff reports
Catawba’s baseball team tied for the top spot with Tusculum in the preseason voting by SAC coaches.
Catawba is ranked 13th nationally in Division II, while Tusculum is No. 17.
Tusculum won a record 24 SAC games last season and won the league regular season and tournament. Catawba finished second in the SAC in the regular season with a 23-4 record, won the Southeast Regional and made the first World Series appearance by a SAC team since 2000.
Catawba outfielder Ethan Satterfield, DH Garrett Furr and starting pitcher Nick Lomascolo are preseason first-team All-SAC picks.
First baseman Chris Dula, starting pitcher John J. Tuttle and relief pitcher Craig Brooks are second-team All-SAC picks.
Wingate is No. 3 in the preseason poll, followed by No. 4 Brevard and No. 5 Carson-Newman.
The Catawba preview is scheduled for Friday’s edition. The Indians open play at Newman Park on Friday with games against Pfeiffer and Tusculum.
Prep basketball
Caleb Martin scored a career-high 37 points and Davie County thrashed West Forsyth 76-58 in Central Piedmont Conference action on Friday.
Martin hit six -pointers and scored 18 of his points in the first quarter as the War Eagles built a 30-10 lead.
“We pressed the heck out of them and got some easy baskets,” said Davie coach Mike Absher.
Davie led by 23 at halftime and Martin only played a little of the fourth quarter before Absher cleared the bench.
Austin Hatfield pitched in with 14 for ninth-ranked Davie (14-3, 2-2). Martin’s twin Cody had 10 points.
• Amy Steller scored 14 points and Hayleigh Hatfield 13, but it wasn’t enough for Davie’s girls against first-place West Forsyth in a 47-39 loss.
• A.L. Brown’s boys rolled to a 78-55 win against Central Cabarrus in SPC play on Tuesday.
Derrick Copeland scored 18 points for the second-place Wonders. Joekeem Neal and Tevin Stark scored 14 each. Tydus Parks and Braxton Waddell added eight points each.
• A.L. Brown’s girls fell 54-51 to the Vikings.
Brown got down 9-0 early but came back to take its first lead late in the contest.
Raven Phifer led the Wonders with 16 points, while Aitana Grant scored 11.
• North Rowan’s boys are ranked fourth in the new NCPreps.com poll.
Concord is ranked No. 1 in the 3A boys poll. Statesville fell to No. 7 after a loss to No. 4 Hickory.
Davie is ranked ninth in 4A. Mount Tabor is fourth.
Central Davidson is tied for 10th in the 2A boys poll.
West Rowan fell to fifth in the 3A girls poll after losing to North Iredell. NPC leader Carson received votes this week.
South Davidson’s girls are ranked ninth in 1A.
Thomasville’s girls are ranked ninth in 2A.
• In makeup games tonight, West Rowan is at Carson, East Rowan is at Statesville, and Salisbury is at Thomasville.
• Northwest Cabarrus’ planned retirement of Kyle Seager’s baseball jersey has been postponed until next season. Ceremonies were planned Tuesday, but there was a death in Seager’s family.
College men’s hoops
Catawba plays a SAC doubleheader at Wingate tonight, starting at 6 p.m.
Wingate’s strong men’s team is 7-1 in the SAC and in a three-way tie for first place. The Bulldogs won a tough game at Catawba in the first meeting of the season.
• Livingstone is on the road tonight at St. Augustine’s and plays at Winston-Salem State on Saturday.
•Rio Grande’s Kaleb Kimber (West Rowan) scored 10 points in a 74-68 loss to Georgetown College.
• Alex Weant (Salisbury) had four rebounds in Roanoke’s 75-62 loss to Randolph-Macon on Saturday.
College women’s hoops
In Charlotte’s 71-54 win against St. Louis on Sunday, Ayanna Holmes (Salisbury) had four assists and Olivia Rankin (Salisbury) blocked a shot. Charlotte is 14-4 and 3-1 in the Atlantic 10.
• George Washington’s Shi-Heria Shipp (Salisbury) scored 12 points in Sunday’s 57-43 Atlantic 10 win against Rhode Island.
• De’Rya Wylie (Salisbury) scored four points in a 67-53 CIAA win over Virginia State on Saturday. The Vikings are 16-3 and 8-1 in the CIAA.
7th-grade basketball
Southeast’s girls won 33-14 against China Grove.
Olivia Gabriel scored 24 points to lead the Patriots. Maren Shumaker scored five, and Alex Linder and Samantha Sebastian also contributed points.
• Gabriel scored 43 points on Tuesday as the Patriots beat Erwin 56-39. Gabriel scored 14 in the second quarter and 17 in the third quarter.
Shumaker added eight points.
Erwin was paced by Sydney Taylor with 18 points. Mia Graham scored nine, and Anna Shafer added six points and eight boards.
• Jamarius Hairston had 22 points and 12 rebounds as Southeast’s boys (3-0) beat Erwin 64-35.
Jalian Williams added 13 points, five assists and six steals for the Patriots. Aaron Banks scored eight points, Cole Sifford had seven, James Stepp scored six, and Cameron Prugh had five.
Cole Perry led the Eagles with 16 points. Josh Ellis had 12 points and seven rebounds. Trevor Scruggs scored five points, and William Brown had six rebounds.
• West Rowan Middle’s boys beat Mooresville 43-41.
Caleb Mauldin had 23 points and 10 rebounds. Owen White had 15 points and five assists, and Josiah Dixon scored eight.
Seth Welch scored 14 for the Red Imps.
Local golf
Frank Starkey made a hole-in-one at Warrior on Tuesday.
He aced the No. 12 hole with a 6-iron. Witnessing the shot were Arnold Herring, Bill McKinney and Al Walser.
Razorbacks
The Lady Razorbacks 10U softball travel team will be conducting tryouts for the upcoming season on Saturday, Feb. 2, from 1-3 p.m. at Salisbury Community Park on Hurley School Road.
Players must not have turned 11 before Dec.31, 2012, to be eligible (can be 11 years old in 2013). Contact Rob Hales (704-433-8687) or Kari Ennis (704-232-9021).
Crossover
This Sunday, Centralina Crossover AAU will conduct boys travel team tryouts from 2-4:30 p.m. for grades 7-11. Tryouts will take place at Christian Outreach of the Piedmont Gymnasium at 1424 Rickert Street, Statesville.
Contact Glenn Usry at 704-881-ss0472.
Hurley YMCA hoops
The J.F. Hurley Y is taking registrations for its high school boys basketball league through Feb. 3.