TIGERVILLE, S.C. – The Newberry College baseball team (3-8, 0-3 SAC) got their first road win of the season as they defeated the no. 2 ranked Crusaders of North Greenville University 5-3 Tuesday afternoon at the Ray and Bea Dillard Field.
The outfielders
Donovan Ford,
Jacob LeBron and
Kade Faircloth combined to go 7-15 with four rbis and two runs scored for the victorious Wolves. Ford and LeBron would make two run saving plays in the outfield on the defensive end as well.
The Wolves would get a solid outing from 10 arms in the victorious effort. Junior left-hander
Parker Fenton got the win for the Wolves to improve to 1-0 on the season. Redshirt-freshman
Brayden Gilson got his first career save striking out two batters in the bottom of the ninth for the Wolves in the win.
The Crusaders got on the board first in the bottom of the fourth with a rbi single to make it 1-0.
That would be the last time the Wolves trail in the contest as they strike for three runs in the top of the sixth inning. That top half would start with back-to-back walks from
Brody Winter and
K.J. Leshko to put runners on first and second. Two batters later, LeBron would get his first rbi with a single through the left side to score Winter to tie the game at one. On the next at-bat, Faircloth would bring Leshko home with a single up the middle to give the Wolves a 2-1 lead. During the next at-bat, LeBron would steal third and advance to home on an errant throw from the catcher to make it 3-1.
In the bottom half of the sixth, the Crusaders would put themselves within one with a solo shot to make it 3-2.
But the Wolves would respond with two more runs in the top of the seventh inning starting with a rbi groundout from LeBron that scored Winter to make it 4-2 while moving Ford to second. On the next at-bat, Ford would force a balk to move to third before Faircloth would drive him home with a single down the right field line to make it 5-2.
The Crusaders would hit another solo home run in the bottom of the seventh to make it 5-3. After that the Wolves would flash the leather with two highlight catches in center field from Ford and in right field from LeBron.
In the bottom of the eighth the Wolves would make the play of the game with runners on first and second with one out,
Cooper Gentry would take a one hop grounder toss it to Leshko and Leshko would finish the deal with a solid throw to
Henry Gibson complete the 4-6-3 double play and keep the Wolves ahead by two.
In the bottom of the ninth, redshirt freshman
Brayden Gilson would finish the Crusaders, striking out two and getting his first career save to give the Wolves a 5-3 win.
Up Next.
The Wolves would continue their road stretch as they travel to Jefferson City, Tenn., Friday and Saturday to face the Eagles of Carson-Newman in a three-game series.
