By Mike London

mike.london@salisburypost.com

Leadoff man Blake Houston made 340 trips to the plate as a freshman and sophomore without hitting a home run for the Catawba Indians.

So some fans probably fainted when the former South Rowan star launched the first two homers of his college career in the same game as a junior against Wingate on March 28, 2014.

Houston’s second two-homer day for Catawba arrived at an opportune time on Sunday. The fifth-year senior left the yard twice at Forest City’s McNair Field, as the top-seeded Indians stayed undefeated in the SAC tournament with a 10-7 victory against No. 3 seed Tusculum.

“I guess the wind just kind of blew them right out of there,” said Houston with a laugh.

Houston now has 13 career homers, nine of them this season.

“As the leadoff guy, they usually come after you and you get pitches to hit,” Houston said. “I’m stronger now then I was when I came here, and if I get a pitch middle in, sometimes I can drive it.”

Houston, who has 240 career hits and is 56-for-64 on stolen bases, chuckles about his power, but he’s been no joke throughout a tremendous career.

Coach Jim Gantt called Houston, who is a tremendous defender in center field, the team’s best player in his pre-tournament radio interview on WSAT 1280 on Friday. That’s saying something, considering Houston has a teammate (Will Albertson) who is batting .497.

Houston’s phenomenal final season (.398, 68 hits, 46 walks, 71 runs scored) has gone hand-in-hand with Albertson’s colossal debut as the No. 3 hitter. Albertson broke the school record for RBIs in a season by knocking in two more Sunday for a total of 86. Current big leaguer Jerry Sands had 85 in 2008.

“I honestly didn’t know how good we could be this year with as many news guys as we have,” Houston said. “A lot of things have come together on this team, and obviously, Will has been the biggest piece we added.”

After Houston’s leadoff single, Catawba jumped on Tusculum for five runs in the bottom of the first. Malachi Hanes, Albertson and T.J. Wharton followed with consecutive singles. Dylan Richardson and Luke Setzer doubled.

“It was huge to start fast,” Houston said. “It’s not like we could ever relax, but that first inning took some pressure off our young guys.”

Houston followed a Grayland Fowler single with a two-run homer down the right-field line in the fourth inning to stake the Indians to a 7-1 lead.

Connor Johnson started for the Indians (38-10) on the mound and was in control through four innings. He ran into trouble in the fifth frame.

“We made some mistakes in the fifth, myself included, and we helped them get back in the game,” Houston said. “But we knew it wouldn’t be easy. Tusculum has a real solid team.”

Winning pitcher Avery Bowles had a terrific performance out of the Catawba bullpen. He got the Indians out of a messy fifth, still holding a 7-5 lead. Then he pitched a 1-2-3 sixth inning and pitched around two errors in the seventh.

Richardson and Setzer drove in runs in the seventh to boost Catawba’s lead to 9-5.

Gantt called on closer Ryan McClintock when Bowles got into a jam in the eighth inning. McClintock got the Indians out of the inning with a 9-7 lead.

Leading off the Catawba eighth, Houston smacked a 2-1 pitch over the fence in right-center to push the lead to 10-7.

Tusculum (29-18) got the tying run to the plate in the ninth, but McClintock got a ground ball  to end the game.

Catawba takes the field at 1 p.m. in Forest City today looking for another championship. Fifth-seeded Wingate eliminated No. 2 seed Newberry and Tusculum from the double-elimination tournament on Sunday and will provide the opposition. If Wingate wins the 1 p.m. game, a second championship game at 4 p.m. will be necessary.

Tusculum  010  040  020   —   7   10  1

Catawba    500 200   21x  —   10   17   4

HR — Tusculum: Shuffler (6). Catawba: Houston 2 (9)

W — Bowles (3-1). L — Berry (4-6). S — McClintock (8).