From staff reports

SALISBURY — Catawba senior Chance Bowden (Salisbury) made the adjustment he needed to make, and his walk-off, two-run homer lifted the Indians to a sweep of Sunday’s baseball doubleheader at Newman Park.

Catawba (22-18, 16-5) won both games by scores of 8-6. Bowden, who had four hits in the first game and three in the  nightcap, boosted his batting average for the season to .404 with a 7-for-10 effort.

The second game was scheduled for seven innings but was tied 6-all after regulation. After Kyle Smith opened the bottom of the eighth with a hit, Bowden connected and sent Catawba fans home  happy.

“The previous at-bat, that pitcher kept pitching me away, away, away and he beat me with fastballs,” Bowden said. “So I went up to the plate in the eighth sitting on a fastball away, and that’s what he threw me.”

Bowden, a right-handed hitter, belted his his homer to the opposite field.

He’s had quite a career with a school-record 79 doubles and 35 homers.

Bowden is only the fourth Catawba player to drive in more than 200 runs in his career. He joins Jimbo Davis,  Craige Lyerly and Jerry Sands in that exclusive club.

•••

In the first game, starter Michael Elwell pitched into the sixth for the Indians.

D.J. Laxton got six big outs, and Hunter Shepherd entered in the ninth and  got the last two outs, including a game-ending strikeout.

Heath Mitchem (Carson)   homered and drove in four runs. Jacob Nester and Lee Poteat had two hits each. Bowden had  three extabase •••

The second game featured a nice comeback by the Indians (22-18, 16-5 SAC), who trailed 6-2 after three innings.

Bryan Ketchie started on the mound. Hunter Shepherd pitched a long relief and earned a save.

“We had some great work by our bullpen today,” Bowden said. “Shepherd kept us in it, gave us a chance, and then everyone got the bats going. Just a great team effort.”

Jackson Raper had a big game in the nightcap. He hit a solo homer in the second and  a two-run single in the fifth as Catawba tied the game. Mitchem produced the run-scoring double that cut Newberry’s lead to 6-3 6-3. Raper’s single made it 6-5, and Cam Morrison knocked in the tying run.

Newberry is 20-8, 11-10.

Catawba now leads second-place Wingate by two games in the SAC race.

“We started really slow against a schedule that was incredibly tough and wehad to figure  out some things,” Bowden said. “We did what we needed to do, and now we’re playing good baseball.”

The Indians will host Mount Olive in Newman Park on Tuesday for a non-conference game at 4 p.m.

Catawba won the first game of the series on Friday, 18-12.

Game 1

Newberry    010    033    20 —   6

Catawba      003    401    00x — 9

W — Elwell (4-3) L— Southerland. HR — Newberry: Callman (8). Catawba: Mitchem (3).

Game 2

Newberry    010   003   200 —  6   9   1

Catawba     003    401   00x   — 8  11  0

W—  (3-1). L — Estridge (2-5). HR — Catawba:  Bowden (13); Raper (6).

Legion baseball

Rowan Legion baseball will be signing up players April 15 at 4 p.m. at the Harold B Jarrett post.

All interested players will need to have a copy of drivers license or birth certificate and a parent to sign paperwork.  There will be a notary at the meeting as well.  All  Junior Legion teams may also attend to get paperwork notarized and filled out as well.

  Prep sports

A regular schedule resumes today. Salisbury baseball will play at West Rowan.  Salisbury also plays a huge home soccer match vs. West Davidson.

College track

UNC Pembroke’s  Matthew Martin and Jonathan Martin (Carson) competed in the Colonial Relays in Williamsburg, Va., and had personal bests.

Jonathan ran 31:27 in the 10K, beating his previous record by 55 seconds.

Matthew ran 14:55 in the 5K and trimmed  18 seconds off  his previous best.

•••

Two former East Rowan sprinters are doing well at Western Carolina.

In the Terrier Relays, Josh Little placed sixth in the 100 in 10.96 seconds. Devaniel Dale ran 21.94 for 11th in the 200 and 11.12 for 14th in the 100.

Ace for Howard

Bud Howard, 87 years young, made a hole-in-one on Friday at McCanless.

Howard hit his perfect shot on No. 12. The 115-yard hole has a two-tiered green and the pin was on the upper tier.

Howard has been playing close to 50 years. This was his first ace.

Jeff Howard and Mickey Landreth witnessed the feat.

Tennis

Salisbury’s Ben Childress made it to the championship match at the Mooresville Spring Fling junior tennis tournament.

He was supposed to play on Saturday and Sunday but Saturday was canceled due to rain, so the entire tournament was played on Sunday.

He played four matches on Sunday. The scoring was changed so that the tournament would be able to finish. Childress won three matches before losing in the final.

  

YMCA Nationals

Salisbury senior swimmer Ethan Knorr was 4-for-4 as far as qualifying for the finals in all of his events.

Knorr swam 1:53.12 in the 200 IM Friday and qualified for the final in the mile on Saturday.

Catawba softball

Anderson,S.C. —Catawba fell on the road to Anderson in a South Atlantic Conference softball doubleheader at AU Softball Complex on Sunday afternoon. The Trojans took the first game, 2-1 in eight innings, and shut out the Indians, 4-0, in the second game. two. The Trojans are 27-11 on the year and 9-5 in conference, while the Indians are 19-20 overall and 7-7 in conference.

In the first game, Catawba scored a run in the first ining. Allie Baker  bunted to get on first. Kaylee Cook got her home with a double. Cook and Baker are former A.L. Brown plaers.

Catawba host Wingate on Wednesday for a 2 pm doubleheader.

UNCG golf

KANNAPOLIS — –  UNC Greensboro’s men’s golf turned in a team score of 14-over 298 in the final round to finish in fifth-place at 23-over-par 875 (285-292-298) in the Irish Creek Intercollegiate co-hosted by Davidson and Charlotte on the Par 71, 7,099-yard The Club at Irish Creek.

Leading the field entering the final round Clemson remained in first-place with a team score of seven-over 859 (277-288-294).

  UNCG freshman Nick Lyerly (East Rowan) tied for 20th-place at 6-over 219 (71-76-72) and had just two bogeys in the final round for the Spartans’ lowest round score.

With the regular season concluded, UNCG will resume play in two weeks with the Southern Conference Championships on April 22-24 at Pinehurst #9.