SALISBURY, N.C. – The Anderson University baseball team dropped both ends of a South Atlantic Conference doubleheader at Catawba, falling 11-6 in the opener and 4-1 in the nightcap, Saturday afternoon at Newman Park.

Anderson fell to 17-19 overall and 6-9 in league action, while Catawba improved to 22-14 and 12-3.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Game #1
Catawba 11, Anderson 6
Braeden Harrison was 2-for-3 in the opener, with a single and a double and also drew a walk, while scoring three times. Luke Poole was also 2-for-3, with a solo home run, a single and also drew a walk. Carlos Hernandez added an RBI-double and a pair of singles, while Jordan Montgomery was 1-for-3 with a single and a walk. Freshman Gray Wells drove in a pair of runs with a fifth-inning double.

Nathan Sanders (3-3) absorbed the setback after giving up five runs on seven hits in 4.2 innings of work on the mound. He fanned five Indians and walked just one.

Game #2
Catawba 4, Anderson 1
JC LeGrand, Poole and Harrison each posted a single in the nightcap, with Harrison also reaching base after getting hit by a pitch in the fourth inning.

Austin Mercado (4-1) allowed just four singles through five innings, but suffered his first loss of the season after surrendering three runs on three hits in the bottom of the sixth. He struck out three batters and walked just one.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Game 1
The Trojans snapped a scoreless tie with a run in the top of the third, when Harrison led off the inning with his seventh double of the season. He moved into scoring position on LeGrand's sacrifice bunt and ended up on third, then scored the game's first run of the game on Justin Fox's sacrifice fly to right field.

Two-out offense in the bottom of the frame enabled the Indians to even the score at 1-1, with the Trojans answering by loading the bases with one out in their next at-bat, but they were unable to take advantage and came away empty-handed.

The Indians struck again with two outs in the home-half of the fourth, when junior Cooper Bryson belted a solo home run beyond the right-field fence and they followed by capitalizing on a single and a run-scoring double to build a 3-1 edge.

The fifth inning saw AU's turn for clutch two-out hitting – Braeden Harrison led off with a single and three batters later, Wells laced a double to the gap in right-center, with Harrison crossing the plate. Hernandez followed with a single, with Wells moving to third and scoring the tying run on Jordan Montgomery's single to left.

With the scored knotted at 3-3, Catawba came right back with yet two more runs in the fifth to take a two-run, 5-3, lead and built its advantage to five with a three-run sixth inning. The Indians tacked three more runs to claim an 11-3 cushion with three consecutive two-out, bases-loaded walks in the seventh.

Poole clubbed his third homer of the season with one out in the eighth to close the gap to seven and the Trojans finished out the scoring with a pair of unearned runs in the top of the ninth.

Game 2
Neither team managed to push across a run until Hernandez led off the fourth inning with a walk and scored on Kye Andress' sacrifice fly to right, while Trojan hurler Austin Mercado held the Indians scoreless and limited them to just four singles through five innings.

But Catawba broke through to send 10 batters to the plate in the decisive sixth inning and scored four times.

NOTABLES
• AU has 14 regular-season games remaining – Home (8)/Away (6).
• The Trojans have nine conference games remaining on their slate.
• The Trojans are in eighth place in the battle for a berth in the eight-team SAC Tournament later this month.
• Luke Poole is riding a 12-game hitting streak.
• Carlos Hernandez has reached base safely in 17 consecutive games.
• JC LeGrand and Kye Andress have each reached base safely in their last nine games.

UP NEXT
The Trojans will wrap up their four-game road swing by returning to North Georgia for their second midweek matchup against the Nighthawks in two weeks. AU will be seeking its second straight win in Dahlonega after posting an 8-3 victory on March 21. The victory snapped a 15-game losing streak at the hands of the Nighthawks and AU's first win in the series since 2012.

First-pitch is set for Tuesday night, at 7 p.m. at Bob Stein Stadium at Lynn Cottrell Park.