KODAK, Tenn. – The second-seeded Railsplitters squandered some golden scoring chances early before the third-seeded Catawba Indians broke the game open late and rode Bryan Ketchie's complete-game shutout to an 8-0 win to wrap up day three of the 2019 Pilot Flying J South Atlantic Conference Baseball Championship on Saturday night at Smokies Stadium.
With the loss, Lincoln Memorial (33-16) drops into the elimination bracket of the SAC tournament to face Wingate at 3:45 p.m. on Sunday, while Catawba (40-12) remains in the winner's bracket and will face Newberry for a spot in the SAC title game at noon on Sunday. If the Railsplitters are able to stave off elimination against Wingate, they will turn around to face the loser of the Catawba / Newberry game for the final spot in Monday's championship.
Some massive missed opportunities came back to haunt the Railsplitters in the loss to the Indians, as Lincoln Memorial left 10 stranded on base and went 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position to suffer a shutout for only the second time all season.
Catawba left-handed starter Bryan Ketchie was mostly the cause of the Railsplitters' offensive ineptitude, as he allowed just five hits without a run while striking out eight and walking one in the complete-game gem. Ketchie improved to 8-1 on the season in victory.
The Railsplitters didn't make it easy on Ketchie initially, though, building up several potential rallies, particularly early in the game.
After going hitless through the first two innings, Lincoln Memorial sparked a rally in the third when
Henry Moore singled,
Marco Rios was hit by a pitch and
Seth Hunt reached via a fielder's choice to load the bases with one out. However, a strikeout and a groundout ended that threat.
The Railsplitters then loaded the bases again with no outs in the fourth after
Chris Salvey walked before
Nate Stinson and
Brent Richey singled. But yet again LMU could not push a run across as a pair of punch outs and a fly out left three stranded on the bases.
LMU later left a runner at second in the fifth and went scoreless again in the seventh after putting runners on first and second with two outs.
While all that was going on, Catawba was only able to push one run home, scoring on a two-out RBI single from Hunter Shepherd in the top of the third, against LMU senior starter
Matt Mullenbach. The righty was sensational over 6.1 innings of work, striking out 13 while allowing only four hits, but was forced to exit the game with one out in the seventh with his pitch count pushed to 120.
That's when the Indians started their scoring binge, as Shepherd drove home another run with a two-out single in the seventh to double the lead to 2-0.
In the eighth, Catawba added two more runs via a sac fly from Bryce Butler and an RBI single from Heath Mitchem. The Indians then broke the game wide open in the top of the eighth, using five hits to plate four more runs. Jackson Raper and Jacob Nester had RBI singles in the inning, while Mitchem drove in two more with a single as well off reliever
Patrick Queener.
Five different players finished with a single hit in the contest for the Railsplitters.
Scooter Ray, who was subbed in to replace the injured Moore midway through the contest, had the Railsplitters' only extra-base hit of the game with a one-out double in the ninth.
Shepherd went 3-for-5 with two RBI, while Mitchem finished 2-for-6 with three RBI to lead the Catawba attack. Joe Butts went 3-for-4 with a trio of singles, as seven of the nine starters recorded at least one hit for the Indians.
