The Belmont Abbey baseball team was blanked by the visiting Catawba College Indians by an 8-0 score this afternoon at Abbey Yard. Four Indians pitchers held the Abbey to just two hits as they improve to 26-7 on the year, while the Abbey falls to 27-9. The win gives Catawba a sweep of the season series.

Both pitchers held the offenses in check until the top of the fifth when Catawba scored the only runs it would need, taking advantage of a Crusader error to score three times. Brett Underwood led off with a walk and moved to second on a single to right center by Blake Houston. Underwood then moved to third when a pickoff attempt sailed into centerfield for an error. That was followed by a strikeout, and Ryan Bostian produced the first run when his single to left scored Underwood. Catcher Josh Hohn made it 2-0 with a single to left that brought home Houston. A groundout to third by Austin Moyer moved Bostian and Hohn into scoring position, and Chris Dula's infield single scored Bostian from third to widen the lead to 3-0.

That was all until the ninth when the Indians padded their lead to 8-0, with three of the five runs coming on a homer to left by Garrett Furr. The other two Catawba runs came courtesy of two Abbey errors. The Crusaders had four miscues on the afternoon.

Dula led the Indians with three hits as Catawba recorded 11 on the afternoon. Furr's three RBI was the game-high. Justin Vasquez and Chris Vazquez had the only two Crusader hits, with Vazquez recording a double.

Catawba starter John Tuttle picked up the win in five scoreless innings, surrendering both Crusader hits. He struck out three and walked two. Abbey starter Matt Parish gave up three runs, one earned, on six hits in five innings as he took the loss. Only two of Catawba's eight runs were earned.