NEWBERRY, S.C. --- Ethan LeBron pitched a complete game gem in leading top-seeded Newberry to an 11-1 win over No. 8 seed Tusculum on the first day of the South Atlantic Conference Baseball Championship Opening Round at the Smith Road Complex.

The Wolves (37-9) were sparked by a six-run, third-inning as Newberry posted 13 hits on the evening while LeBron limited the Pioneers (25-23) to only four hits on the night.

The Wolves will face No. 5 seed Lenoir-Rhyne on Saturday at 11 a.m. with the winner advancing to Sunday's bracket final. Tusculum will play No. 4 seed Carson-Newman on Saturday at 2:45 p.m. in an elimination game. The winner of that contest will face the loser to the Newberry / Lenoir-Rhyne game Saturday night in another elimination contest.

Newberry's Jesse Free went 3-for-5 with two RBI and scored a pair of runs. Braylin Marine and Henry Gibson each had two-hit outings for the Wolves.

Tusculum shortstop Ben Scartz went 2-for-4 for the Pioneers, while Christian Ortega drew a pair of walks.

Newberry sent 10 batters to the plate in the third inning as the Wolves posted six hits including a RBI double from Jonathan Velez for the host's only extra base hit of the game.

Tusculum designated hitter Zach Brunet accounted for TU's only score as he led off the fifth inning with a triple and scored on catcher Blaze McCauley's ground out.

Newberry answered with two runs in the fifth and seventh innings and added a run in the eighth to cap the Wolves' scoring.

After surrendering Brunet's triple in the fifth, LeBron didn't allow a hit the rest of the way as he retired 14 of the last 15 batters including eight in a row.

In LeBron's 110-pitch performance scattered four hits, allowed one run with four walks and two strikeouts to improve to 4-1 on the season. 

TU starting pitcher Luke Absher (4-3) went 6.1 innings where he allowed nine runs, eight earned, 11 hits, three walks and a strikeout. Reliever Sam Bonilla went 1.2 innings, allowed two runs on two hits, one walk and one strikeout.