Staff report

SALISBURY — As expected, Catawba’s baseball team received a regional bid on Sunday night and will be the No. 1 seed for the Southeast Regional.

The double-elimination tournament will be hosted by North Greenville at Ray and Bea Dillard Field.

Games start on Thursday. Catawba (32-9) plays No. 6 seed Columbus State (29-16) in the final game of the first round at 7 p.m.

Columbus State will be a challenge. The Georgians are an offensive-minded bunch and have scored better than nine runs per game. They are third nationally in homers, launching two per game.

Catawba also has scored runs at a prolific rate — 8.8 runs per game. Both teams are ranked in the top 20 nationally as far as scoring runs.

Catawba has pitched well, especially considering the dimensions of the soon to be renovated Newman Park. Catawba ranks 26th in D-II in ERA.

The other games on the first day of the four-day event are No. 2 Mount Olive (35-10) vs. No. 5 UNC Pembroke (29-13) at 11 a.m. and No. 3 Wingate (30-12) vs. No. 4 North Greenville (33-11) at 3 p.m.

Catawba won the South Atlantic Conference regular season. The Indians haven’t seen game action since losing to Wingate in the SAC tourney on April 25.

Rested or rusty? Only time will tell.

The winners of eight regionals will advance to the finals of the NCAA DII Baseball Championship at the USA Baseball National Training Center in Cary, N.C.. That event will be held on June 5-12.