The Lenoir-Rhyne Baseball Team returned to their winning ways on Wednesday as they took down their in-state rivals, Catawba, 5-3. Trailing by one at the top of the eighth, the Bears’ heart of the order put together a strong inning to put away the Indians.

It all got started with Mason Maxwell as he found the gap in left center to score Cole Laskowski and tie the score at three apiece. In the very next plate appearance, Tyler McPeak hit his own RBI double to score Maxwell while Bryce Stober put the cherry on top with an RBI single to score Max LeCroy.

After the carousel on the bases path for Lenoir-Rhyne, Braden Houston once again closed the book on an opponent with two no-hit innings to earn the save.

Blake Bean continues to have incredible success at the plate with a couple of home runs in his first two at-bats of the game. Andy Cook made his second mid-week start in a row; Struck out four in 4.0 IP on the mound and allowed three earned runs and three hits.

Gavin Marley earned his first winning decision of the year, tossing a perfect bottom of the seventh inning before the Bears recorded three runs in the top of the eighth. Along with Bean’s two hits tonight, Cole Stanford and Stober each had two hits of their own.

With holding Catawba to three runs, it is the fourth time in the last six games that the Bears have held their opponents to three runs or fewer.

It was the 110th all-time between the two schools, and despite the Bears win, the Indians still dominate the series, 71-39. After being swept in Salisbury last season, this is the first time that the Bears have defeated the Indians on the road since March 6, 2020.

Dating back to last season’s win in the SAC Tournament, it is the first time that Lenoir-Rhyne has defeated Catawba in back-to-back contests since April 15, 2004. Despite this contest being against a South Atlantic Conference opponent, the result does not affect their conference record since it was considered as a non-conference game.

Lenoir-Rhyne and Catawba will face off against each other in less than one month on March 7 in Hickory, N.C.