NEWBERRY, S.C. – Returning to conference action after a midweek win over USC Aiken, the Newberry College (26-4, 9-1 SAC) baseball team opened their league series with Queens on Friday night with a 6-0 shutout win over the Royals.

Junior Joe LaFiora (Philadelphia, Pa.) pitched a seven-inning gem for the Wolves as he only allowed five hits while fanning seven batters in the contest. Junior Kyle Baker (Gaston, S.C.) would wrap up the contest for the Scarlet and Gray with a trio of strikeouts to his credit over the final two innings of action.

Freshman Donovan Ford (Greenville, S.C.) had himself a day at the plate as he would go 4-for-5 at the dish, tallying a pair of RBIs along the way.  Senior Beau Thompson (Pickens, S.C.) knocked in a pair as well as he was a perfect 2-for-2 in the contest. Sophomore Jacob LeBron (Lexington, S.C.) recorded the other RBI for the Wolves on the night with one of his two hits.  The Wolves recorded ten total hits on the night while drawing five walks.

After retiring the side in order in the top half of the first, the Wolves wasted no time taking the early advantage as after a hard ground out, the Wolves would load the bags with assistance from two walks and a hit batter.  Thompson would then drive a single into shallow left field that would plate the first run of the frame for Newberry before Ford would drive a hard hit double down the left field line to bring around a pair and give them the 3-0 lead after the first.

Neither team would strike in the second, but Newberry would further extend their lead in the bottom of the third as they were able to post a single run on the board.  A lead-off single by senior Zane Tarrance (Odessa, Fla.) followed by a pair of stolen bags set him up just 90 feet away from another run. Thompson recorded his second RBI in the contest on a sacrifice fly to shallow right field that allowed Tarrance to trot the final distance and give them the 4-0 lead.

The Wolves would then go quiet on the scoreboard until the bottom of the sixth, but with the help of LaFiora's performance on the mound their maintained their four-run advantage over that span.  The Wolves would load the bags for the second time in the contest and would score their first run of the frame on a hard break double play. However, LeBron would drive in the second run of the frame with a single to right center field that brought the margin up to six runs.

That's where the lead would stay as even though the Royals were able to move a runner to third in two of the final three innings, the Wolves pitching staff would work out of the jam every time and rounded out the 6-0 win.

The two teams return to the field tomorrow to wrap up their conference series with a doubleheader slated for a 1:00 p.m. start.