FLORENCE, S.C. – The Newbery College baseball team (0-2, 0-0 SAC) fell to the Patriots of Francis Marion (2-0, 0-0 CC) in a back-and-forth 7-6 battle in Florence this afternoon.
Both teams will come back to the Smith Rd. Complex tomorrow afternoon for the final game of the three-game series, which starts at 2:00 p.m.
Senior right fielder
Jacob LeBron went 2-3 with two rbis on the afternoon. Junior center fielder
Donovan Ford wreaked havoc on the basepaths, stealing two bags on the day, upping his total to three stolen bases on the season.
The Wolves would load the bases up in the top of the first after a LeBron single, followed by
Henry Gibson walking and
Kade Faircloth getting hit by a pitch.
Jomar Lugo would get the first run on the board as he would get hit by a pitch to give the Wolves a 1-0 lead.
The Patriots would answer in the bottom half of the first putting a two mark on the scoreboard to make it 2-1.
The Wolves would use some small ball to even things up on the ensuing half inning as LeBron would get his first rbi with a single through the left side of the infield to tie it up at two, after Ford would move the runner to third on a flyout to right.
After the Wolves and Patriots would exchange two scoreless half innings, the Patriots would take a three-run bottom of the third to extend their lead to 5-2.
In the top of the fourth, the Wolves would look to cut into that three-run lead, as
Kade Faircloth would get a rbi infield single that would score Ford to make it 5-3.
The Patriots would answer the Wolves with a single in the bottom of the fourth to make it 6-3.
After that the Wolves would rip three consecutive runs, with the first one coming from a sac fly off the bat of LeBron in the top of the sixth to make it 6-4.
Then in the top of the eighth, the Wolves would continue to cause chaos on the basepaths as they would score two runs on back-to-back passed balls to even things up at six.
The Patriots would answer to take the lead in the bottom of the eighth and hold on to secure the win 7-6.
