SALISBURY – Southpaw Jordan DeLoatch handcuffed the nation's fifth-ranked scoring offense for seven innings and the 30th-ranked UNC Pembroke baseball team pulled away late on the way to a 9-2 victory over third-ranked Catawba on Wednesday evening at Newman Park.

UNCP (27-9) improved to 5-5 against top 10 opponents this season with the victory. The setback snapped a three-game win streak for the Indians (31-8) who fell to 10-12 all-time in the series against the Black & Gold.

Drew Cole doubled twice and drove in three runs on a 3-for-6 night for the visitors, while Drew Beaver drove in a pair of late insurance runs to highlight a 3-for-5 performance. Collins Cuthrell walked twice and hit his 19th home run of the season on a 2-for-3 showing.

Catawba got base hits from four different players, including Luke Setzer (1-for-3) who accounted for both runs for the hosts on the night with a two-run dinger in the third.

DeLoatch (1-0) struck out six and surrendered just a pair of runs in seven quality innings from the hill to pick up his first decision of the season. Matt Farmakis (3-2) took the loss for the Indians despite allowing four unearned runs on as many hits in 1-2/3 innings of work.

The Braves scraped together a trio of runs in the top of the second to stake claim to an early 4-0 edge, but Setzer helped cut the deficit in half with a one-out homer in the bottom of the third. Cuthrell's no-doubter with one out in the seventh gave the visitors an insurance run, but the Braves added three more scores in the eighth before capping the scoring on Beaver's fielder's choice RBI in the ninth.

DeLoatch retired the first seven batters he faced before yielding back-to-back hits in the third. He would respond by retiring 10 of the next 11 hitters, before getting out of a jam in the sixth.

UNCP will be back in action again this weekend when it bunkers down to host rival Francis Marion (23-12, 11-8 PBC) in a three-day series at Sammy Cox Field. The squads will open up the weekend with a 6 p.m. contest on Friday. Saturday's tilt is scheduled for 3 p.m., and the teams will close out the series on Sunday at 1 p.m.