Dolberry SALISBURY — The UNC Pembroke baseball team took one-run leads in the fifth and again in the eighth in Friday’s NCAA Southeast Regional game at Catawba, but the hosts scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth to pull ahead in a 5-4 win.
Top-seeded Catawba (41-15) was facing elimination in Friday’s game in the double-elimination tournament. UNCP (43-13) took its first loss of the regional, and will face Young Harris at noon on Saturday in an elimination game, with the winner set to play Catawba at 3:30 p.m. to advance to the super-regional round.
“They played better than we did,” UNCP coach Paul O’Neil said. “They’re an extremely good team, they’re extremely well coached and they deserved to win tonight, so all the credit should go to Catawba and their team.”
Catawba led 2-0 after a pair of first-inning runs; a fourth-inning home run by UNCP’s Kody O’Connor cut the lead in half at 2-1.
Ashton Donathan then gave the Braves a 3-2 lead in the fifth when he homered to plate Andrew Jenner.
“Our team doesn’t give up,” O’Neil said. “We’ve got a good team, we’ve got great kids on our side, they’re going to fight you until you get the 27th out every single time.”
Catawba tied the game at 3-3 after a run scored on a wild pitch in the seventh; UNCP answered with a run in the top of the eighth on a Michael Dolberry home run for a 4-3 advantage.
“I was just trying to get it done for my guys, trying to put something in motion for the team to get me in somehow,” Dolberry said.
An Levi Perrell single for Catawba tied the game in the eighth before the go-ahead run came home on a Braves error.
Dolberry had three hits to lead UNCP, with a run and an RBI. Starter Jacob Smith allowed one earned run on six hits over six innings; Chase Jernigan (3-2) took the loss in relief.
Cooper Bryson had three hits and Sam Hunter had two for Catawba. Payne Stolsworth allowed three runs over five innings after starting for Catawba, Mason Gwyn (9-1) got the win after three innings allowing one run and one hit and Hayden Simmerson earned his seventh save with a scoreless ninth.
Braves beat Young Harris in regional opener
UNCP held off a late rally from fifth-seeded Young Harris to take an 8-7 win in the NCAA Southeast Regional opener Thursday afternoon at Catawba’s Newman Park.
Joey Rezek led the way with a 5-for-5, two double, one home run day, while Kody O’Connor went big fly twice on the way to a 3-for-5 performance. The duo combined to go 8-for-10, with three doubles, three home runs, and six RBI. Blake Hinson also had three hits, with two steals and an RBI.
Jake Inman (6-1) picked up the win, going 3 1/3 innings in relief of Jonathon Jacobs, allowing just one run on four hits before Chase Jernigan pitched into and out of danger in the ninth to hang on for the victory.
The Braves fell behind 3-0 early, but eventually tagged Conference Carolinas Pitcher of the Year Zach Murray (9-2) for ten hits and six runs.
The Braves (43-12) improved to 18-7 in the all-time series with the Mountain Lions (39-14), and have now taken seven of the last eight matchups.
The Braves will be back in action Friday as they will take on Catawba in what will either be an elimination game for Catawba, or the start of a best-of-three series for the regional title depending on the result of tonight’s Catawba-Young Harris matchup. First pitch is set for 6 p.m.
Steve Spell got the Mountain Lions on the board first with a two-run single in the second inning, while Jack Enrico added an RBI walk to send Young Harris out to an early 3-0 lead.
The Braves answered back in the third, as Rezek connected for his 21st home run of the year, while O’Connor went back-to-back to cut the deficit to 3-2.
An inning later, UNCP’s Will Hood worked a leadoff walk, stole second, and came around to tie the game on a Blake Hinson RBI single up the middle. Hinson stole second and would come home to score on Rezek’s RBI double to give the Braves a 4-3 lead.
Young Harris responded in the fifth with a James Basham RBI single to tie the game back up at 4-4.
Hood reached via a leadoff single in the sixth and moved to third on Hinson’s single, setting the stage for a perfectly executed double steal to put the Braves back ahead 5-4. Rezek struck again with another RBI double to score Hinson, while O’Connor sent one into orbit for a two-run job to stretch the lead to 8-4.
In the Mountain Lions’ ninth, Basham scored one with an RBI double, Jeremy Begora worked an RBI walk, and Jack Enrico was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to make it 8-7, before Chase Jernigan nailed down the win with a strikeout of Ethan Stamps.
Basham and Marco Colina each had three hits for Young Harris and Spell had two. Basham and Spell each had two RBIs.
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