NEWBERRY, S.C. --- The Newberry Wolves swept a South Atlantic Conference baseball doubleheader over the visiting Tusculum Pioneers Saturday afternoon at the Smith Road Complex.
The Wolves rallied from a 3-0 deficit in the opener to send the game into extra innings and scored twice in the bottom of the 11th to win 5-4. Newberry pounded out 17 hits in the night-cap to complete the doubleheader sweep with a 12-4 victory.
Newberry (24-4, 8-1 SAC) wins the weekend series 2-1 as the Wolves are ranked 16th in the Collegiate Baseball News Division II Coaches Poll and 13th in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers of America DII Poll.
Tusculum (11-14, 3-9 SAC) currently has the nation's fifth most difficult schedule as the Pioneers have played 14 games against nationally ranked opponents and own a 7-7 record in those games. TU's last seven contests have been against top-20 programs.
Game 1: No. 16/13 Newberry 5, Tusculum 4 (11 innings)
Newberry overcame a pair of late inning deficits including a two-run 11th inning as the Wolves rallied to a 5-4 victory.
The Wolves' Beau Thompson went 4-for-4 at the plate and drove in the game tying run in the eighth inning with his two-out single to tie the game at 3-3.
Tusculum retook the lead in the top of the 11th on Zane Keener's two-out double to drive in Ryan Dos Santos for a 4-3 lead. In the bottom of the frame, the Wolves recorded three infield singles to load the bases. Jomar Lugo drove in the tying run with his sacrifice fly. Jonathan Velez won the game with his walk-off single to complete the rally.
Tusculum starting pitcher Sam Loew and Newberry's Tyler Chinpire opened with four shutout innings to begin the game.
TU broke the scoreless tie with a pair of unearned runs in the top of the fifth for a 2-0 advantage. The Pioneers added a run in the seventh on Will Samuelson's RBI single.
Leading 3-0 heading into the bottom of the eighth, reliever Jacob Willett ran into trouble as he walked the first two batters. Gage Newsom took over for Willett and after a bunt moved the runners to second and third, Braylin Marine lined a two-run double down the right field line to trim the deficit to one (3-2). After a strikeout, Thompson brought home Marine with his single to right to tie the game at 3-3.
Tusculum finished the game with 13 hits including two hits each by Samuelson, Dos Santos, Christian Ortega and Zach Wilson. The Wolves would finish the game with a dozen hits.
Newberry reliever Tyler Tuck (1-0) accounted for the win, while Drew Sliwinski (1-2) suffered the loss for the Pioneers.
Game 2: No. 16/13 Newberry 12, Tusculum 4
Brayline Marine had a monster game as the reigning SAC Player of the Week went 3-for-4 with five RBI in the night-cap as Newberry prevailed 12-4.
The Wolves churned out 17 hits including three hits by Jacob Lebron and two hits apiece by Kade Faircloth and Ian Clements.
Meanwhile, starting pitcher Ethan Lebron (5-0) remained undefeated on the season as he tossed six strong innings, allowing two runs on four hits, zero walks and three strikeouts. TU starting pitcher Harbor Jefferson (3-4) pitched only one inning where he allowed one run, but it was enough to tag him with the loss.
Newberry jumped out to an 11-0 lead including an eight-run outburst in the third frame to take a hold of the game. The big hit of the third came from Marine with his three-run double.
Tusculum scored two runs each in the sixth and seventh innings. In the sixth Tyler Ranel hit a RBI triple and Wes Reynolds followed with a RBI single. In the seventh, Rudy Fernandez had a RBI single for the visitors.
The Pioneers will face in-state foe Lee University this Tuesday at 6 p.m. with the game site yet to be finalized due to a scheduling glitch.
