ANDERSON, S.C. - Freshman Shawn Delmontagne notched a two-two, two-run triple in the opener and senior Erick Sanderson tossed his third complete game of the season in the nightcap to help lead Anderson past Catawba by identical 3-2 scores in South Atlantic Conference doubleheader baseball action Saturday afternoon at Anderson Memorial Stadium.

Anderson (13-17, 7-8 SAC) dealt the league-leading Indians (21-7, 12-3 SAC) their first back-to-back losses of the season, while snapping a six-game skid.

Game #1
Anderson 3, Catawba 2

Delmontagne, the designated hitter in the opener, was 2-for-3 with two RBI, while shortstop Thomas Padro added a double in four at-bats and scored a run.

The Trojans worked Catawba starter JJ Jankowski (4-1) for three runs as the hard-throwing right-hander suffered his first loss of the season. AU's Marsh Kowalski worked two full innings of hitless relief to earn the win and Jacob Saxon threw the ninth inning for his fifth save of the season.

Catawba broke a scoreless tie in the top of the seventh inning with the first three Indian batters reaching base safely by sandwiching a pair of walks around a single to right field. With the bases loaded and no one out, Kowalski came on in relief to get designated hitter Garrett Furr to bounce into a double play. Senior Josh Hahn crossed the plate with the first run of the contest, but after a walk to Brett Underwood Kowalski ended the threat when Keaton Hawks flied out to right.

The Trojans answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning by capitalizing on a pair of errors on the part of the Indians. Padro led off with a double to center and May followed with a hard-hit liner that was snared by Moyer at first, but the Indians' first baseman threw the ball into left field while trying to double up Padro at second.

Padro moved to third on the throw and scored when the Indians' third baseman was unable to corral Ryan Saxon's hopper to the left side. Saxon was erased on Sanderson's bouncer to short, but both Sanderson and Ryan Kirkland scored when Delmontagne ripped his second triple of the season all the way to the fence in right-center.
Catawba climbed within a run in the ninth with three singles, but Saxon settled down to retire the Indians and earn his fifth save.

Game #2
Anderson 3, Catawba 2, (7 innings)

Sanderson tossed his third complete game of the season by scattering seven hits, while giving up two runs. The big right-hander issued just one walk, in the fifth inning, while fanning six batters and improved to 4-3 on the season. Catawba junior hurler Austin Moyer suffered the hard-luck loss, dropping to 4-2 after going six innings and giving up three runs off six hits, while recording five strikeouts.

Freshman Zach Reeves finished the game 1-for-3 with an RBI and scored a run, as Jonathan Romano and Troy Ambros each added a hit and scored a run. Junior third baseman Blake May recorded a fifth inning single that plated two runs.

The Trojans threatened to get on the scoreboard in the second inning after Ryan Kirkland and Tony Price posted back-to-back two-out singles, but AU was unable to push them across the plate.

After threatening again in the fourth, Anderson broke through with three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning by playing classic "small ball." The first three Trojan batters reached base and all eventually came around to score, Romano led off the frame by getting hit by a pitch and Ambros followed with a single through the right side. Reeves added another shot through the right side to plate Romano and Thomas Padro's sacrifice bunt moved Ambro to third and Reeves into scoring position at second. May upped his RBI total to 18 on the season when his single brought home both Ambros and Reeves.

Catawba rallied for two runs in their final at-bat, but with the tying run at second and two out, Sanderson induced CC's Ryan Bostian to bounce into a fielder' choice with pinch-runner Garrett Robinson being forced out at second.

Anderson returns to the diamond on Tuesday, when the open a six-game road swing at former conference-foe Limestone. AU defeated the Saints, 4-3, in 12 innings back on Feb. 3 in the season-opener at Memorial Stadium. First-pitch is set for 2:30 p.m. in Gaffney.