NEWBERRY – The Newberry College baseball team (1-2, 0-0 SAC) struck the win column this afternoon with a 4-2 victory over the Patriots of Francis Marion (2-1, 0-0 CC).
The Wolves had a great outing from junior starting pitcher
Ethan LeBron. LeBron went seven innings, striking out four Patriots and only allowing one earned run. Sophomore right hander
Blake Morrison went two innings and struck out three batters to earn the save.
Junior center fielder
Donovan Ford, and senior Catcher
Rhett Jolly both drove in two runs in the afternoon for the victorious Wolves. Jolly also added two stolen bases in the victorious effort.
The Patriots would strike first in the top of the first when Peyton Wilson would hit a home run that just snuck by the foul pole to give Francis Marion their only lead of the afternoon at 1-0.
LeBron would settle in after giving up that home run by only allowing three runners in scoring position through the following six innings.
The Wolves would be held scoreless until the bottom of the fifth where
Jesse Free and
Bryson Nuckols would reach on back-to-back singles.
K.J. Leshko would move the runners to second and third with a sacrifice bunt. After Leshko's sacrifice, Ford would rip a double into the left center field gap, scoring Nuckols, and Free along with forcing the Patriots to dig deep into their bullpen. Three batters later and with the bases loaded, Jolly would get his first rbi of the day with a bases loaded walk to extend the Wolves lead to 3-1.
The Wolves would add on two innings later in the bottom of the seventh, where the Wolves would get a run on a two-out rally started with a
Luke Compton walk. On the next at-bat,
Jacob LeBron would rip a single up the middle to move Compton to third. With the runners on first and third, Jolly would get an infield single to score Compton to make it 4-1. In the same half inning, LeBron and Jolly would both get stolen bases in that half inning.
In the top of the eighth, the Patriots would score an unearned run on a sacrifice fly from Peyton Wilson to cut the Wolves lead to two runs.
Morrison would then shut the door in the top of the ninth, striking out the final two batters to get the save and give the Wolves their first victory of the season.
The Wolves will hit the road next weekend, as they will travel south to Florida to take on the no. 3 ranked Spartans of the University of Tampa in a three game series starting on Friday afternoon.
