FLORENCE – The Wolves just keep on winning.
Newberry followed up a Friday thrashing of Davis & Elkins with a 9-2 win over the Senators, then outlasted host Francis Marion 10-9 in 13 innings for an improbable 13th straight victory.
Only once in the 21st century have the Wolves (16-4) had a longer winning streak: a 14-game run in 2015. Newberry's last loss came 21 days ago at then-No. 8 North Greenville.
The Wolves trailed in both contests, falling behind Davis & Elkins (0-8) 1-0 in the early going before roaring back into the lead with a seven-run sixth inning. Francis Marion led by as many as four runs in the middle innings, but Newberry came back to push the game into extra innings and overcome their biggest deficit of the season.
Newberry was outhit in the morning win over the Senators 8-7 but needed just four hits to plate seven runs in the all-important sixth inning. Newberry had tied the score at 1 an inning earlier on
Danton Hyman's triple and
Zane Tarrance's sacrifice fly. The sixth began with two walks and a wild pitch before
Dalton Lansdowne's bunt scored the first run of the inning.
Hyman reached with a bunt to load the bases before Tarrance rolled a two-run single up the middle. After
Aidan Baur was hit with a pitch,
Kenny Bergmann's two-run single through the right side continued the inning.
Tyler White added an RBI infield single and
Nick Butler a sacrifice fly to stretch the lead.
Josh Bookbinder earned the win with eight strong innings, giving up a pair of runs on seven hits while striking out four.
Beau Thompson worked the ninth to secure the victory.
The exhilarating win over Francis Marion to cap the day made Newberry a perfect 4-0 in 2019 in extra innings. The back-and-forth affair saw the lead change hands in the early going, Francis Marion build its 7-3 advantage with a four-run fifth, Newberry counterpunch with three runs in the sixth and a tying run in the eighth, and both teams scoring twice in the 11th.
The winning run came in true "get him on, get him over, get him in fashion."
Ian Clements worked a one-out walk and stole second. The left-handed hitting Baur grounded out to the first baseman, allowing Clements to score from third. Butler then fouled off a 1-2 pitch before singling through the left side to give Newberry the lead.
Jonathan Elicier worked around a fielding error and a hit batsman to close out the game in the bottom of the inning and secure his first win of the season. He was the last of three pitchers to come out of the bullpen in support of starter
Tomas Sorcia, Jr.
The Wolves had scored a pair in the 11th without the benefit of a hit, taking advantage of two walks, an error, and a wild pitch. The Patriots got two straight singles to lead off the bottom of the inning before a triple tied the score with one out. Lansdowne fielded a grounder four pitches later and, with the winning run bearing down on the plate, fired a strike to Clements to nail the runner and extend the game. A groundout ended the threat.
Three Wolves ended the game with multiple hits, led by three from Butler. He extended his reached-base streak to 13 games, while Hyman's reached-base streak stands at 27 games dating back to last season and Tarrance has hit safely in nine straight contests.
Newberry returns to action with a Tuesday game at fifth-ranked Mount Olive. First pitch is slated for 2:00 p.m.
