NEWBERRY - The Newberry Wolves dropped their only meeting of the year with the Belmont Abbey Crusaders on Wednesday night, 14-10. They head into a weekend series with Wingate University Bulldogs with the Bulldogs situated right in front of Newberry at fourth place in the South Atlantic Conference standings.
WHERE: Wingate, N.C. - Ron Christopher Stadium, Plyler Field
WHEN: Saturday, March 28, at 1 p.m. - DH and Sunday, March 29, at 1 p.m.
RECORDS: Newberry 17-15, 9-8 SAC and Wingate 21-9, 12-9 SAC
LIVE AUDIO: N/A
LIVE VIDEO: Saturday & Sunday: http://www.WingateBulldogs.com
LIVE STATS: http://www.WingateBulldogs.com
WEATHER: Saturday - High of 52 degrees and sunny with no chance of rain, Sunday: Mainly sunny skies with a high of 58 degrees and light and variable winds
The Wolves struggled with runners on base again on Wednesday even though they posted 10 runs in the outing, leaving 13 men stranded on the base paths. Two innings cost Newberry as an eight-run first and a five-run fourth turned out to be the difference in the game.
Brandan Sheridan (Jacksonville, Fla.) led the Wolves with three hits in six trips to the plate, including a double, triple, four runs batted in and two runs scored. Wesley Camp (Pelion, S.C.) was 2-for-3, driving in a pair of runs and scoring a pair as well. Alex Kirby (Chapin, S.C.) and Jacob Bass (North Augusta, S.C.) tallied two hits each in the contest while both players scored a run.
Newberry will face a stout Wingate club that is one of the best in the country with a bat in their hand. The Bulldogs lead the league in runs (284), home runs (52), runs batted in (252), extra-base hits (129), total bases (601) and slugging percentage (.546). They are second in hits (360) and batting average (.327) while sitting in their in on-base percentage. They currently lead the country in home runs and are top five in doubles, runs and runs per game.
Shane Billings leads the team with a .424 average and a .490 on-base percentage but Thomas Spitz leads the conference in home runs (11) and runs batted in (44).
On the mound Wingate carries a team ERA of 5.05 with 210 strikeouts and an opponent average of .279 in 256.2 innings. Tyler Brown leads the staff with five wins in a team high 39.2 innings pitched but Hunter Hamilton has the lowest ERA with a 2.03 while Jimmy Doolittle has struck out 32 batters.
