Area Sports Briefs: Catawba baseball wins, 11-5, in first round
Published 1:45 am Saturday, April 30, 2016
From staff and wire reports
Top-seeded Catawba rallied to beat Wingate, 11-5, in the first round of the South Atlantic Conference Baseball Tournament on Friday in Kodak, Tenn.
Catawba (32-17) plays at 3:45 p.m. today against fourth-seeded Lincoln Memorial.
Catawba trailed 5-3 entering the pivotal bottom of the sixth. Doubles by Zac Almond and Jeremy Simpson made it 5-4, and Dylan Richardson RBI single made it 5-all.
Kyle Smith’s tiebreaking, two-run double in the seventh followed hits by Will Albertson and Malachi Hanes.
Hanes homered in the eighth.
Hanes, Almond and Albertson had three hits each. Jake Kimble and Smith had two hits and two RBIs.
Shaefer Shepard pitched into the seventh for Catawba without a decision. Avery Bowles (3-0) was the winner in relief.
Pfeiffer
Behind a record breaking performance by ace Ethan Greene, the Pfeiffer baseball team (21-29) upset top-seeded Erskine Flying Fleet (36-14) in the opening round of the Conference Carolinas Tournament on Friday afternoon.
Greene picked up his 27th career win, breaking the record set by Randy Benson in 1972.
ASU
Matt Vernon (Davie) homered and drove in four runs in Friday’s 9-2 win against Arkansas State.
College softball
Catawba used a seven-run fourth inning to beat sixth-seeded Queens, 9-4, on Friday to stay undefeated in the South Atlantic Conference softball tournament in Hartsville, S.C.
Second-seeded Catawba will take on top-seeded Lenoir-Rhyne today at 2:30 p.m.
Kristen Stinnard singled in two runs to put Catawba ahead, 5-4. Ashley Wagoner had a three-run double.
Carley Tysinger improved to 29-8. She retired 11 of the final 12 Queens batters.
Gina Gerone had four hits for the Indians. Katherine Shumaker had two hits and two RBIs. Morgan Brann had two hits.
•••
Belmont Abbey catcher Katherine Starnes (South Rowan) made the for being selected to the Conference Carolinas all-tournament team.
•••
Steffi Sides (Eat Rowan) helped Guilford win its first game in the ODAC tournament.
College lacrosse
The second-seeded Lenoir-Rhyne Bears claimed an 11-9 win over Catawba in the semifinals of the South Atlantic Conference women’s lacrosse tournament on Friday night at the Queens Sports Complex.
Lenoir-Rhyne advances to Sunday’s final.
The Catawba Indians, who were seeded sixth, end their season at 8-10.
Megan Shortt scored four goals for the Indians.
Intimidators
The Columbia Fireflies beat the Kannapolis Intimidators, 9-2, on Friday.
Ryan Riga struck out a career-high six batters for Kannapolis (8-14) but gave up six runs in the first four innings.
Netting
The Kannapolis Intimidators, in an ongoing effort to provide a safer and more enjoyable fan experience, have installed protective safety netting over the dugouts at Intimidators Stadium,.
The new netting was installed by Promats Athletics, a Salisbury company that has installed similar tension netting systems and stadium wall padding at ballparks across the country.
“With fan safety and fan experience our chief concern, the Intimidators installed this new netting to protect fans from foul balls or bats that would otherwise enter spectator areas during a game,” said Intimidators General Manager Randy Long.
The Intimidators return home for a seven-game home stand starting Wednesday, May 4.
Prep baseball
The Greater Cabarrus Stallions lost 5-3 to Wake County on Friday in the Homeschool World Series.
Leading hitters for the Stallions were Dalton Lankford with two hits, including a double, and Hunter Shepherd, with two hits, including a double. Camron Wallace also had two hits.
The Stallions will play in a third-place game today against the Carolina Royals.
Prep soccer
Julia Patrum scored two goals as Concord edged West Rowan, 2-1, in SPC soccer on Friday.
Prep football
East Rowan offensive lineman Sawyer Kimmer, A.L. Brown offensive lineman Cameron Peters, A.L. Brown defensive lineman Dantrelll Barkley and Davie receiver Ben Ellis will play in this summer’s East-West All-Star Game.
Prep softball
Makenzie Smith hit two homers as Davie rolled, 15-0, against Parkland in COC action on Friday.
Kasey Potts and Jessica Beck also homered for the War Eagles.
Julie Gough pitched a one-hitter.
Mustangs
East Rowan won against Mount Pleasant, 6-4, in a non-conference game on Friday.
Coryn Soul homered for the Mustangs. Anna Shafer was the winning pitcher.
Wonders
A.L. Brown beat Hopewell, 4-2, on Friday and finished the regular season undefeated in the MECKA.
Kaylee Cook pitched a complete game and struck out eight.
Cook had two hits. Ashlynn Stokes had two RBIs.
NHL
DALLAS — Radek Faksa scored the tiebreaking goal on a rebound with 4:44 to play and had an assist on the other Dallas goal to help the Stars open the second round of the Western Conference playoffs with a 2-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Friday night.
Like Antoine Roussel did on his second-period goal on which Faksa had an assist, Faksa started the rush that led to his winner.
Blues defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk tied it at 1 with 8:28 left in the third period with a shot from the top of the left circle after Dallas failed to clear the puck out of the zone.
Game 2 is Sunday in the best-of-seven series matching the Western Conference’s top two teams from the regular season.
NBA
PORTLAND, Ore. — Los Angeles guard Austin Rivers left the Clippers’ first-round playoff game against the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday night with a bloody cut above his left eye that required 11 stitches.
Rivers was injured in a collision with Portland’s Al-Farouq Aminu midway through the first quarter. He was escorted to the locker room by trainers but returned before the end of the first half.