Salisbury, N.C.----Wingate and host Catawba battled to a split of a South Atlantic Conference baseball doubleheader on Saturday at Newman Park. The 23rd-ranked Catawba Indians won the opener 8-7, while the Bulldogs took the nightcap 2-0. The Indians now stand at 14-5 overall and 8-1 in the SAC, while Wingate is 15-9 and 5-4.

Catawba rallied from an early 4-0 deficit to claim the opener. Greg Lawson (Charlotte, N.C.) singled home Brett Underwood (Greensboro, N.C.) with one out in the seventh to provide the winning run. Underwood had doubled prior to the single.

The Bulldogs jumped in front on a two-run double by Casey Allison (Horse Shoe, N.C.) in the first and a two-run homer by Brian Yeung (Raleigh, N.C.) in the third for a 4-0 lead. Catawba erased the deficit in fourth. John Neese (Summerfield, N.C.) connected on a three-run homer and Blake Houston (Mt. Ulla, N.C.) delivered a two-out, two-run double to put the Indians up 5-4.

Austin Moyer (Greensboro, N.C.) pushed the Catawba lead to 7-4 with a two-run shot in the fifth. Wingate rallied to even the score in the top of the seventh, chasing Tribe starter JJ Jankowski (McMurray, Pa.) on a game-tying single by Jacob Karr (Richmond, VA).

Clay Watson (Lexington, N.C.) got the Tribe out of the seventh and kept Wingate off the board over the final two innings to earn his first win. He allowed one hit and one walk with a pair of strikeouts over two and two-thirds innings. Jankowski allowed nine hits and posted 13 strikeouts.

Allison had three hits for Wingate in the loss, while Yeung and Dodson McPherson (Graham, N.C.) each collected a pair of hits. Josh Hohn (Greensboro, N.C.) had two hits for Catawba and scored twice.

Wingate turned to closer Justin Somers (Wilmington, N.C.) to start the final game of the series. With two wins and five saves in nine appearances, Somers kept Catawba off the board for five innings. He worked out of trouble in the fourth and fifth to improve to 3-1 overall.

McPherson provided the game’s lone runs with a two-run homer in the first. Cale Rogers (Snow Camp, N.C.) had singled prior to the home run. The Bulldogs never mounted much of a threat off Moyer the rest of the game, while the Indians stranded nine runners.

Catawba left a pair of runners in scoring position in the fourth then loaded the bases with one out in the fifth. Somers got out of the jam with a flared pop-up back to the mound and a ground out. Stephen Vaughan (Wilmington, N.C.) and Joshua Karr (Richmond, Va.) each tossed a scoreless inning in relief with Karr earning his first save. Somers surrendered four hits with three walks and five strikeouts.

Moyer took the loss for the Indians and fell to 3-1 overall. He scattered five hits, walked three and struck out six. Rogers had two hits for Wingate as the only player with a multi-hit game.

(Special thanks to Catawba College SID Jim Lewis for providing this story.)