Greenville, Tenn. - Newberry split their South Atlantic Conference series-opening doubleheader with eighth-ranked Tusculum Sunday night. The Wolves won game one 8-7, and the Pioneers took the second game 8-7.
Game One
In the top of the second, Jacob LeBron and Gabriel Santiago each walked to lead off the inning. Dalton Lansdowne laid down a sacrifice bunt to put both runners in scoring position. LeBron then scored on a sacrifice fly by Nick Butler, and Santiago scored on a single by Luke Orr to give Newberry the 2-0 lead.
In the top of the third, Newberry would expand their lead to 6-0. Zane Tarrance had a two-run single, and Santiago had an RBI groundout. The Pioneers responded with two runs in the bottom half of the third to cut the Newberry lead to four runs. The Wolves answered back in the fourth with an RBI single by Jack Harris and an RBI groundout by Tarrance to make it an 8-2 game.
Tusculum would chip away with single runs in the fourth and fifth and three runs in the sixth to cut the Newberry lead to one run. Christopher Osment would enter the game in the sixth and throw a perfect inning and a third to end the game and earn his first career save.
Luke Orr was 2-5 with a double and a run batted in, while Ian Clements was 2-5. Zane Tarrance finished the game 1-3 with a run scored and three RBIs, and LeBron scored two runs. Tomas Sorcia, Jr. (4-1) picked up the win, allowing five earned runs on five hits and striking out six in five and a third innings pitched.
Game Two
Tusculum would take the early lead, scoring one run in the bottom of the second. In the top of the third, Nick Butler would get hit by a pitch and then advanced to second when the Tusculum pitcher threw away a pickoff attempt. Later in the inning, Butler scored on a single by Jack Harris to tie the game. The Wolves took the lead in the fourth inning when Ian Clements drew a leadoff walk and scored on a two-out single by Gabriel Santiago. Newberry added three more runs in the fifth to take a 5-1 lead over the Pioneers. Harris's solo home in the seventh made it a 6-1 game, but the Tusculum offense exploded for five runs in the bottom half of the inning to tie the game. The Pioneers would add two more runs in the eighth to take an 8-6 lead. Newberry would take advantage of an error in the ninth to get a run and make it an 8-7 game, but the Wolves couldn't get the tying run to cross the plate.
Harris led the Newberry offense going 3-5 with a home run, two runs scored, and two RBIs, while Santiago was 2-3 with an RBI. Josh Stempihar (1-1) took the loss allowing two unearned runs on one hit in 1.1 innings of relief.
