NEWBERRY – The Wolves just keep on winning.
No. 22 Newberry (27-7, 11-1 SAC) swept a doubleheader with visiting Anderson (11-19, 2-10 SAC) by scores of 9-4 and 6-2 on Saturday afternoon. The Wolves are now 19-0 at the Smith Road Complex, tied with Arizona State for the best home record in the entire NCAA.
Newberry is now 11-1 in the South Atlantic Conference, extending its lead in the league standings after second-place Lincoln Memorial faltered in the front end of a doubleheader with first-year varsity program Queens.
Newberry is now 9-0 in its "Sweep Hats" this season, the special cap only worn when the Wolves are in the final game of a potential season sweep of an opponent.
And, for good measure, the Wolves have now won eight in a row and 10 of their last 11 games.
Not bad for a team picked fifth in the conference's preseason poll.
The doubleheader began with a brush with history.
Tomas Sorcia, Jr. flirted with a no-hitter, allowing just two bases on balls before right fielder Chandler Castleberry broke up the no-hit bid with a leadoff single to left field in the seventh. The Wolves have had three no-hitters in their history, most recently by Ernie Castellano in a seven-inning game at Anderson on Feb. 18, 2006. Tim Cook (1978 vs. Findlay) and David Horton (1960) provided the others.
Sorcia went on to allow two hits and an unearned run in eight stellar innings of work. He struck out five Trojans' batters.
Aaron Copeland labored in the ninth, allowing three runs and walking four batters, but got the help of Newberry's fourth double play of the weekend to end the game and protect the Newberry advantage.
Josh Bookbinder got the start in Game Two and nearly tossed his fourth complete game. He pitched into the seventh, ultimately being charged with two runs on eight hits. He struck out three batters without issuing any free passes in improving his record to 6-0, one win behind teammate
Quinton Driggers for the all-divisions NCAA lead in wins in 2019.
Driggers came in with a five-run lead and the bases loaded, showing off his speed to finish off a 3-1 groundout in a bang-bang play at first and recording his team-high 47th strikeout to cap the first save of his career.
The Wolves finished the doubleheader with 21 hits, 13 of which came in the first game.
Aidan Baur,
Tyler White, and
Luke Orr combined for four hits, six RBI's, a walk, and four runs scored in the No. 3-5 positions in the Game One lineup.
Dalton Lansdowne combined to go 4-for-7 with three runs scored and an RBI, while
Danton Hyman had two hits in each game to extend his reached-base streak to 41 games. Hyman now has 235 career hits, most among active Division II players and second-most in school history, and leads current Division II players with 62 stolen bases after adding two to his total in the second game.
The Wolves scored a run apiece in the first and fourth innings of Game One before breaking the contest open with four runs in the fifth;
Tyler White's second triple of the weekend plated two runs and provided the biggest blow.
Newberry waited until the second inning of Game Two to take the lead, scoring three unearned runs after a costly fielding error.
Chase Barbary provided the first RBI on a perfect squeeze bunt before Lansdowne and Hyman hit back-to-back singles that extended the lead.
Newberry scored on a
Colin Allman sacrifice fly in the third and plated a pair of crucial insurance runs with RBI's by Hyman and
Zane Tarrance in the sixth.
The Wolves return to action on Tuesday night against Augusta. First pitch from the Smith Road Complex is set for 6:00 p.m.
