NEWBERRRY – Newberry was outhit 10-2 Friday night against Lenoir-Rhyne. In the first four innings alone, the Bears had eight hits, a walk, and a hit batsman.
No matter. A two-out rally in the fourth inning yielded three runs, the Wolves added an insurance run in the seventh, and got another herculean performance from left-handed reliever
Quinton Driggers to secure a 4-2 win in the South Atlantic Conference opener for both teams.
The reigning SAC Pitcher of the Week set a career-high with five innings pitched, entering with a man on first and nobody out in the fourth and seeing the game to completion. The junior allowed a single Bears' (5-7, 0-1 SAC) hit, a slow dribbler that eluded capture up the middle. He had five strikeouts against one walk and lowered his ERA to 1.56, good for second-lowest on the team.
Driggers ran his record to 4-0 on the season, three of which have come in the last 10 days. In that span, Driggers has an unblemished ERA, has allowed just four hits, struck out 14 batters, issued one walk, and allowed opponents to hit .121 against him.
The Newberry (9-4, 1-0 SAC) offense was opportunistic, managing no hits after the fourth inning and just two for the game, yet taking advantage of seven walks and three hit batsmen.
Trailing 2-0 with two outs in the fourth,
Nick Butler began a string of three consecutive walks that loaded the bases as Lenoir-Rhyne starter Paul Hall began to lose his command. He had been in five consecutive three-ball counts before he got ahead of
Peyton Spangler in a 1-2 count.
The left-handed hitting Spangler poked an outside pitch over the head of the third baseman and into left field to tie the score at 2-2. Two batters later, an offering from Hall got away from catcher Zack Shoemaker, allowing
Ian Clements to scamper home and give Newberry the lead.
The Wolves added a key insurance run in the seventh. Hyman walked to bring up
Tyler White, who gamely pushed a sacrifice bunt down the first base line with two strikes.
He was put out at first and the ball was returned to pitcher Nolan Flachofsky, who inexplicably tossed the ball toward the Newberry dugout as if to ask for a new baseball. But time was never called, allowing Hyman to scamper to third and come around to score three pitches later on
Aidan Baur's sacrifice fly that allowed Baur to tie
Tyler Ackard for the team RBI lead.
The Bears squandered their best chance to add a run against Driggers in the sixth inning. Second baseman Brock Johnson appeared to strike out swinging, but was granted first base on catcher's interference. A sacrifice bunt and a fielding error put runners on the corners, but Driggers induced a 6-4-3 double play to get out of the inning.
The sequence came an inning after an appeal play erased a would-be runner in scoring position with one out. The Bears also left two men on in scoring position in the eighth with a strikeout and a groundout to the mound.
Lenoir-Rhyne tagged starter
Charlie Fessler for a pair of runs on nine hits, but Fessler was able to wiggle out of trouble and strand eight runners through the first four innings.
The series will conclude with a Saturday doubleheader scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m.
