The Belmont Abbey baseball team dropped a 9-5 decision at Catawba this evening at Newman Park. The Indians improve to 19-9, while the Abbey dips to 20-18.

Catawba starter Alex Fairweather moved his record to 2-1 with the win as he allowed four runs, three earned, on four hits in six innings. He walked three and fanned two. Nate Cudney took the loss after he allowed six runs, five earned, on ten hits in six innings. He struck out seven and walked two as his record fell to 2-3.

Belmont Abbey struck first with three runs in the opening frame, getting an RBI double by Daniel Kassouf, an RBI groundout by Justin Vasquez and a sacrifice fly by Spencer Sobol to give the Crusaders an early 3-0 advantage.

Catawba struck back with four runs in its half of the first and added two more in the second to take a 6-3 lead. The Crusaders trimmed the Indian advantage to 6-4 with a run in the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Caleb Shore, scoring Carlos Vasquez, who opened the inning by advancing to second base on an error by the shortstop and leftfielder.

That was all of the scoring until the seventh when the Indians plated three to extend their lead to 9-4, and the Abbey closed the scoring with one run in the eighth as Justin Baxley singled home Sobol, who led off the inning reaching on a throwing error.

Belmont Abbey finished with six hits as Justin Vasquez led the way with a pair in two at bats.