MOUNT OLIVE, N.C. – A big fifth inning lifted No. 5 Mount Olive to a 22-8 win over Newberry on Tuesday afternoon, handing the Wolves their first loss in 24 days.
Newberry (16-5) came into the game sporting a 13-game winning streak, one shy of matching the 2015 team for the most since at least the 1982 season, but was undone by a 10-run fifth inning that turned a 6-3 Newberry lead into a seven-run deficit.
Four of Newberry's five losses on the season have come to teams ranked in the top 10 of the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll at the time of the contest. The Wolves were defeated three times by then-No. 8 North Greenville in the season's second weekend.
Mount Olive (13-2) scored at least 10 runs for the ninth time this season and pounded out 16 hits on their way to the convincing victory. The 22 runs scored represented the most by a Newberry opponent in nine years.
Finding themselves in a 3-0 hole after the first inning, the Wolves came back to take the lead in the early going.
Tyler Ackard lifted the first pitch he saw over the fence in right field for his first home run of the season.
Danton Hyman's blast off the scoreboard in right center cut the lead to a run before the Wolves took the lead in the fourth.
Ackard started a one-out rally with a single through the right side. A
Nick Butler single and a walk loaded the bases. After a strikeout gave the Trojans their second out,
Dalton Lansdowne took advantage of the Mount Olive defense playing at regular depth, laying a perfect bunt to the third base side of the mound to tie the score and prompt a pitching change.
The first pitch from the reliever got away from the catcher and gave Newberry the lead. Hyman then laced a 2-1 pitch down the right field line for a two-run double to make the score 6-3.
But the Trojans roared back in the fifth, taking advantage of
Colin Allman tripping on the bag at second base on his way to field what would have been the first out of the inning to spark a 10-run frame that included eight hits, two Newberry errors, a hit batsman, a walk, and a grand slam.
Ackard tied a career high with three hits in the contest to pace the Newberry offense. Hyman and
Nick Butler each finished with two hits apiece, while Hyman's four RBI matched his career best.
Zane Tarrance's nine-game hitting streak came to an end, but he did reached safely on a walk. Tarrance (11 games), Butler (14), and Hyman (28) all have double-digit active reached base streaks.
Newberry travels to Southern Wesleyan for a 6:00 p.m. contest on Wednesday night before opening a South Atlantic Conference series Friday at Coker.
