SALISBURY – A sacrifice fly by Craig Books helped host and eighth-ranked Catawba take an 8-6 lead in the bottom of the eighth, but 25th-ranked UNCP sent its entire order to the plate and scored six runs in the top of the ninth to post a 12-8 upset over the Indians on Wednesday at Newman Field.

The triumph gave the Braves (17-6) their fifth win in the last six series matchups with Catawba (18-6) who saw its five-game win streak come to an end as well. The victory successfully opened up an 8-game road trip for UNCP.

Three different players recorded multi-hit outings for the visitors, including sophomore Ben Schmucker who tripled and drove in a career-high five runs on a 2-for-5 hitting line. Drew Alford doubled twice on a 3-for-4 outing, while Dalton Knight doubled and scored twice on a 2-for-5 day at the plate.

Ethan Satterfield plated a pair of runs on a 4-for-6 day at the plate for Catawba who combined for 10 walks in the outing, but stranded 15 runners on the base paths, including 11 in scoring position. Julio Zubillaga (2-for-3) and Chris Dula (2-for-4) turned in a pair of hits for the Indians as well.

Junior southpaw Patrick McMahon (3-0) grabbed his second win in five days, this time striking out two and yielding one hit and a walk in 1-1/3 scoreless relief innings. John Tuttle (4-3) began the ninth with an 8-6 lead, but failed to record an out and was tagged with the loss after surrendering six earned runs on four hits and a pair of walks.

Catawba used four hits and a costly fielding error to score a trio of runs in the bottom of the first inning, but UNCP countered with four of its own in the top of the third to grab its first advantage of the contest. The Indians scored twice more in the bottom of the fifth to regain the lead, but the Braves went on top again on Chad Whitehead's two-run single up the middle with two outs in the sixth.

The hosts took their final lead of the contest on Ethan Satterfield's two-run single with two outs in the seventh, and then added an insurance run on Brooks' knock in the eighth, but UNCP would not go away quietly.

Daniel Fraga (hit), Zade Denton (walk) and Jordan Edgerton (hit) all reached to lead off the ninth and Brett Huffman logged his first hit of the game moments later to pull the visitors to within a run. Schmucker's bases-clearing triple in the next at-bat would help UNCP retake the lead, but the Braves would add a pair of insurance runs later in the inning on Alford's two-run double.

UNCP will continue its long stretch away from home this weekend when it heads to Americus, Ga., to battle Peach Belt Conference foe Georgia Southwestern (6-16, 2-9) in a three-game series at Hurricane Stadium. The squads will open up the weekend with a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday before putting the lid on the series with Sunday's 1 p.m. series finale.