NEWBERRY, S.C. – Taking the diamond for the first time this season, the Newberry College (1-0) baseball team picked a win in walk-off fashion off the bat of redshirt-junior Braylin Marine (Freeport, N.Y.) whose sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth gave the Wolves the 5-4 win over the Jaguars of Augusta University at the Smith Road Complex on February 4.
Newberry was led by sophomore Jacob LeBron (Lexington, S.C.) who tallied a pair of hits on the day while redshirt-sophomore Henry Gibson (Walterboro, S.C.) pitched in a three RBI performance in the contest with a three-run blast in the first frame.
Redshirt-junior Joe LaFiora (Philadelphia, Penn.) got the ball to start the contest for the Wolves but it would be sophomore Johnathan White (Simpsonville, S.C.) who would pick up the win in relief as he tossed a pair of scoreless innings while striking out a pair. LaFiora recorded five fans on the day while sophomore Rylan Brown (Spartanburg, S.C.) notched two and redshirt-junior Kyle Baker (Gaston, S.C.) sat down a trio.
The scoring started immediately in the game as after an initial defensive miscue by the Wolves, the Jags were able to capitalize with a two-run shot in the top of the first inning to take the early 2-0 lead. However, defense would plague the Jags in the bottom of the frame as well as a pair of errors would set score one run and a hit batter would set up the three-run dinger by Gibson that would give the Wolves the 4-2 lead after the first.
The teams would trade a scoreless second inning before Augusta would get another run on the board through the power of their bats as Markiewic knocked his second of the day to pull the score back up to 4-3.
Both teams would struggle to find their rhythm at the plate as the hurlers for both squads put together impressive performances not allowing a single run until the eighth inning when Augusta was able scratch across a run in the top of the eighth to pull back even with the Wolves. While Newberry couldn't respond in the bottom of the eighth, White would give the Wolves the chance they needed by sitting down the Jags in the top of the ninth with no offensive production.
After a fly-out to lead-off the bottom of the ninth, the Wolves were able to draw a walk and another defensive miscue by the Jags to leave runners one second and third with just one out on the board. Marine would only need to see two pitches in his at-bat as he took the second pitch for a ride to centerfield and though it was caught by the Jags centerfielder, it was deep enough in the outfield to allow graduate student Ian Clements (Upper Marlboro, Md.) to scamper the final 90 feet needed to secure the 5-4 victory.
The Wolves return to the friendly confines of the Smith Road Complex tomorrow, February 5 as they welcome back the Jags for a doubleheader. First pitch for game one is set for 2:00 p.m.
