By Mike London

mike.london@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — While Catawba’s Craig Brooks has accomplished a lot of things on baseball diamonds, throwing a no-hitter didn’t come off his bucket list until a crisp, cool Monday at Newman Park.

“Never threw a no-hitter in my life, not at any level,” Brooks said. “That makes this the biggest day of my life.”

The senior said a few teammates defied baseball superstition and mentioned the no-no while it was still in progress.

“I had to tell them to hush up,” Brooks said with a laugh.

Brooks, who walked three and hit one, credited his curveball and his new cutter, but his fastball was lively. He had seven strikeouts in a 4-0 victory in the opener of a South Atlantic Conference doubleheader against Brevard. Catawba took the nightcap, 7-0. Both games were scheduled for seven innings.

“Brooks is good, fun to watch,” Catawba coach Jim Gantt said.  “Just a pure baseball player. Doesn’t worry about the draft, doesn’t worry about his stats. He just enjoys playing baseball.”

T.J. Wharton caught the no-hitter, and freshman first baseman Chance Bowden preserved it. With one out in the seventh, Brevard’s John Slade pulled a ball down the first-base line, but Bowden made a dive and a back-hand stop.

“You almost always need a  great play when there’s a no-hitter,” Gantt said. “Chance made one.”

Brooks is an All-American, one of the best in NCAA Division II, but Gantt was still impressed by his 90-plus velocity for this early in the season.

“He’d be throwing even harder if we wasn’t playing a position for us,” Gantt said.

Brooks played third base in the second game. Shaefer Shepard, who would be the ace for just about anybody except Catawba, dominated on the hill. Shepard allowed two hits in five innings and could have finished, but Gantt needed to get other hurlers some work. Matt Farmakis tossed a 1-2-3 sixth inning. Then closer Ryan McClintock submarined an easy seventh frame.

“I tried to match Brooks,” Shepard said. “Two no-hitters would’ve been cool.”

Catawba (8-3, 3-2 SAC) had enough offense to do the  job. Shortstop Dylan Richardson drove in two runs in the opener, while Brooks and Bowden knocked in one each.

New slugger Will Albertson had four RBI in the second game, including a three-run homer. Malachi Hanes produced a two-out, two-strike opposite-field hit that pushed Shepard’s cushion from 2-0 to 4-0.

The Indians started SAC play 1-2, after running into stout pitching at Carson-Newman, but they believe they’re back on track now. Hitting is mostly timing, and it’s been hard to find a rhythm with wintry weather and postponements.

“We’re going to hit and we’re going to win our share,” Brooks said.

Mounds of frozen snow around Newman Park were a reminder of just how bad the weather has been.

“We didn’t know if we’d be able to play,” Gantt said. “Our guys did a lot of work and we got a lot of help from the high school coaches — Scott Maddox, Aaron Rimer, Brian Hightower. Our guys were running around getting bags of Turface (drying agent) from all the high schools. They got the field playable.”

Brooks is glad they did. He added to Catawba’s record book.

Game 1

Brevard     000   000   0   — 0  0  1

Catawba    000  400   x    — 4   7    0

W — Brooks (2-1). L — Chaplain (2-1).

Game 2

Brevard    000   000   0  — 0   2   1

Catawba    202   300   x —   7    6   0

W — Shepard (3-0). L — Joyce (0-3).

HR — Albertson (4).