From staff reports

Catawba’s bats cooled on a weekend trip to  Lenoir-Rhyne, but the pitchers came through.

Hunter Shepherd, Cody Fitch and Bryan Blanton teamed to shut out the Bears, 1-0, on Sunday afternoon, and the Indians took a SAC baseball series, two games to one.

The Indians scored the lone run of the game when Jeremy Simpson (West Rowan) crossed the plate on a wild pitch in the eighth inning.

Lenoir-Rhyne sophomore Hunter Martin and Shepherd, a freshman who was homeschooled and played for the Greater Cabarrus Stallions, both pitched six scoreless innings.

Fitch (2-0) pitched the seventh and eighth. Blanton held the 1-0 lead in the ninth for his fourth save.

Catawba (13-4, 5-1 SAC)  heads south to take on Florida Tech on Tuesday. L-R hosts Belmont Abbey on Tuesday.

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Freshman Ike Freeman (East Rowan) got his first college hit for UNC on Sunday with a pinch-hit double and belted his first homer for the Tar Heels not long after that.

UNC beat Long Beach State, 8-5.

Freeman won the Mark  Norris Memorial Award last spring as the Rowan County Player of the Year.

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Matt Honeycutt (South Rowan) is swinging the bat well for Mars Hill.

Honeycutt is batting .339 with three homers and 12 RBIs. Honeycutt homered on Saturday and had three hits in a win against Tusculum on Sunday.

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Lee Poteat (West Rowan) is swinging a hot bat for St. Andrews.

The freshman had eight doubles and five triples in 75 at-bats. He’s batting over .400 with an OBP of .527. Poteat was the American Legion Region Player of the Year.

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Eric Tyler (South Rowan) had two hits on Sunday as East Carolina beat Appalachian State 4-0.

Tyler has started all 11 games for the Pirates and is batting .302.

Women’s basketball

Kelly Dulkoski (Carson)  made four 3-pointers as Kennesaw State pulled out a 72-70 win against NJIT in the first round of the Atlantic Sun Tournament.

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Shay Steele (West Rowan) scored 21 points for Morehead State in a loss to Eastern Kentucky in the first round of the OVC tournament.

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Khaila Hall (West Rowan) scored 10 points for Longwood in a loss to High Point to close the regular season.

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Wingate won the SAC tournament on Sunday by pounding Lincoln Memorial, 81-61.  Kristina Rumplasch scored a career-high 21 points for the Bulldogs.

The pairings for the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional 

(1) Columbus State (28-1) vs.  (8) Anderson (21-7)

(4) Limestone (27-4) vs. (5) Lander (24-7)

(3) Lincoln Memorial (26-4) vs. (6) Clayton State (24-6)

(2) Wingate (25-5) vs. (7) King (25-6)  

College lacrosse

  Anna Lingle (North Rowan) scored her first goal for Lees-McRae on Saturday.

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Catawba freshman Gianna Pezzulo  scored four goals to pace a 12-9 win against Virginia Wise on Sunday. The Indians are 3-2.

Local golf

  In the Two-Man Mulligan at Warrior, the team of Kevin Lentz-Jon Dyer won with 61-59 — 120.

Blake Wray-Troy Beaver finished second at 63-61 — 124. Taking third was the team of Thad Sprinkle-Bryson Sprinkle at 127.

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In another extraordinary matchup in The Couples competition at McCanless, the team of Mary Seaford, Gene Seaford and Melinda Rigger edged out the team of Bev Cobb, Ty Cobb and Susan Wydner on a scorecard playoff.

Gene Seaford had the longest putt.

Men’s basketball

  Limestone’s men won the Conference Carolinas championship game at Pfeiffer’s Merner Gym  by beating King, 76-70.

MVP Shaq Dance scored 24 points.

Pfeiffer’s Josh Calhoun made all-tournament.

Limestone is seeded sixth in the Southeast Regional that will be hosted by Queens and will play Peach Belt tourney champ UNC Pembroke, the No. 3 seed, in the first round.

Pfeiffer made the regional field as the No. 7 seed and will take on No. 2 seed Lincoln Memorial in the first round.

Queens earned that No. 1 regional seed by beating Lincoln Memorial 75-72 in Sunday’s SAC tournament championship game.

Southeast Region Bracket
#1 Queens (28-3) vs. #8 Wingate (20-10)
#4 Columbus State (20-9) vs. #5 Augusta (23-70
#2 Lincoln Memorial (26-5) vs. #7 Pfeiffer (26-4)
#3 UNC Pembroke (24-7) vs. #6 Limestone (26-5)

College tennis

Catawba’s men’s and women’s tennis teams have dropped their first two matches on a spring break trip to Hilton Head Island, S.C.

7th-grade basketball tournament

Action continues today at Corriher-Lipe Middle School in Landis.

Erwin’s top-seeded girls defeated Corriher Lipe in the first round, 49-13.

Erwin (15-0) was led by Katelyn Griggs with 13 points and Madie Honeycutt with 10. Leah Hinceman added six  points.