ROCK HILL, S.C. – Dillon Cate was announced as the South Atlantic Conference's Pitcher of the Week Tuesday afternoon after a dazzling performance against 14th-ranked Northwood on Sunday.
The redshirt-senior right-hander did not allow a hit over 7 1/3 innings with a career-high 15 strikeouts on the day while throwing 142 pitches, 83 for strikes and only allowing six balls to be put in play on the day. The Sevierville, Tenn. native allowed six walks and hit a batter in his effort.
"I can pitch deep into games," Cate said of the confidence gained. "I haven't really done that in college yet until this year. That is comforting to see. Keep doing what I am doing – working hard each week and taking it day by day. I feel like I will be pretty confident on the weekends to throw."
According to the record keeping, Cate reset the high mark for individual punch outs in a game during the program's Division II era. Previously Dustin Batson against Catawba on April 15, 2016 in 11 innings and Quinton Yocom against Tusculum on Feb. 18, 2015 in 9 1/3 innings had the mark of 14.
�� Plenty of �� from @CNBaseball's pitching staff as @D_cate20 and @willgardner34 combined to K 19 batters.https://t.co/E5m0BSNOKe
— C-N Athletics (@CNathletics) February 19, 2018
Clyde Wright holds the overall program record with 22 strikeouts in a 13-inning game during the 1965 NAIA National Championship season.
The last time that a Carson-Newman pitcher won the honor from the league came during the 2016 season when Vince Apicella won on March 8. The lefty also won on Feb. 16 of that year.
In four of his seven full innings of work on Sunday, Cate retired the Timberwolves in 1-2-3 fashion as he sent down 11 straight batters from the third inning to a two-out walk of David Vinsky in the top of the sixth frame.
After striking out one in the first inning, Cate went on to K at least two in each of the next six while sending the side down in order on strikes in the fifth frame. The final out recorded by the flamethrower was a strikeout looking of Northwood lead-off man Colin Mclelland to start the eighth.
Through three starts this year, the hurler is 2-0 with a 2.55 earned run average while leading the South Atlantic Conference with 32 punch outs and 16.30 strikeouts per nine innings.
"He has jumped our talent level a ton," Carson-Newman pitching coach Mark Allen Bounds said. "The kid is blessed with a great arm, a good slider and flat out gets after it with a business-like approach every day. They has blended into the rest of our guys. He and Will Gardner leading this staff as the two older guys has been a plus."
His 17 2/3 innings on the rubber are third in the league while his ERA qualifies him for 10th in the early portion of the year. Opponents are now hitting .143 against him on the season.
Cate's next start is slated for Friday evening as the Eagles open South Atlantic Conference play against Newberry at 6 p.m.
1⃣5⃣ @D_Cate20 punch outs in graphic form with a look at how dominating the righty was for @CNBaseball. pic.twitter.com/HkZz4a2CVS
— C-N Athletics (@CNathletics) February 19, 2018
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