Staff report

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Maddux Holshouser couldn’t have pitched much better, Dawson Painter couldn’t have hit much better, and Carlos Lara socked a clutch, three-run homer.

But all those good things were undone by five errors. Catawba’s baseball team took a frustrating 7-6, 11-inning loss at Palm Beach Atlantic on Friday night.

Holshouser pitched into the sixth — no earned runs, one walk, six strikeouts.

Painter went 3-for-4. Joe Butts knocked in two. Zack Miller had two hits.

Catawba got behind after three unearned runs scored in the bottom of the first, but Painter came home on a groundout by Butts to get Catawba on the board in the third inning.

Painter’s run-scoring triple and Butts’ double made it 3-all in the fifth.

With the Indians (0-2) down 4-3 in the eighth, Lara, who played for Palm Beach Atlantic last season, swatted Catawba’s first homer of the young season, with two teammates aboard, for a 6-4 lead.

The Indians couldn’t hold it. Palm Beach Atlantic (2-0) got one in the eighth and one in the ninth to send the game to extra innings.

Palm Beach Atlantic won on an unearned run in the 11th.

Bryan Kowalski took the loss.

Catawba plays at Lynn on Saturday afternoon as the Florida trip continues.

 

Catawba      001   020  030  00  — 6     8    5

PBA            300   000   111   01   — 7      8    0

HR — Lara (1).

L  — Kowalski (0-1).