NEWBERRY — Despite being a team whose offense has carried it throughout most of the season, it was Newberry’s dazzling defense that provided the spark in Friday night’s matchup of top-15 teams.

A pair of outfield assists, a bevy of highlight-reel plays across the diamond, and an impressive night on the mound helped No. 7 Newberry to a come-from-behind 4-2 win over 15th-ranked Catawba in a battle with massive implications on the South Atlantic Conference race.

The win keeps Newberry (34-10, 17-2 SAC) a game ahead of Lincoln Memorial, next weekend’s opponent, in the SAC standings after the Railsplitters won tonight’s series opener at Tusculum. It pushes Catawba (34-10, 17-5 SAC) one-and-a-half games back with only tomorrow’s two games left on its conference slate.

The game’s turning point came, oddly enough, on a series of plays surrounding Catawba taking the lead. The Catawba Indians had already lined into a double play at second base with two on and one out in the first and managed only one run in the second despite having two in scoring position and nobody out. Charlie Fessler made quick work of Catawba in the third and fourth before the offense began to awake.

The fifth inning commenced with two straight hits and a stolen base that put runners on the corners. A groundout to the mound provided the first out but put runners at second and third for designated hitter Heath Mitchem.

Mitchem singled up the middle on a 2-2 pitch that scored one run, but Danton Hyman gunned down the runner coming home from second to keep the damage to a minimum. Moments later, Colin Allman slid to corral a ground ball going up the middle, executed a popup slide, spun 270 degrees to his left, and threw to first to beat the runner by a step and save a run.

Although Newberry went down in order in the bottom of the inning, the Wolves’ defense continued its exemplary work in the sixth. With a runner on second, one out, and center fielder Hyman shaded the opposite way in left-center, first baseman Hunter Shepherd rolled a ground ball through the middle. Hyman charged at an angle to cut the ball off and threw a laser to the plate to freeze the runner at third.

Shepherd attempted to take second on the play, but Ian Clements threw a strike to Dalton Lansdowne covering the bag for an 8-2-4 putout. Fessler induced a harmless popup two pitches later to end the threat.

Newberry finally broke through in the bottom of the inning. Hyman led off with a perfectly-placed bunt down the third base line that three players converged on but none even attempted to field. Zane Tarrance reached on a sacrifice bunt throwing error, then both moved up 90 feet on Tyler White’s sacrifice.

Allman worked the count full before blasting a two-run double into left-center. After a flyout, pinch hitter Kenny Bergmann smacked a single into center to stretch the lead to 4-2.

Fessler then handed the game to Driggers, who recorded his fifth save in as many appearances in SAC play with three innings of three-hit work. He struck out four batters and worked out of a two-on, nobody-out jam in the eighth to keep the Catawba offense at bay.

Fessler improved his record to 5-3 while Catawba counterpart Bryan Ketchie suffered his first loss of the season after beginning the year 7-0.

Newberry was outhit 10-5 in the contest but took full advantage of a pair of Catawba errors to plate a pair of unearned runs, both coming in the decisive inning. The attendance of 326 was Newberry’s largest of the season.

The Wolves were outhit by Catawba 10-5 in the come-from-behind 4-2 win Friday night.
https://www.newberryobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/web1_BaseballCatawbaWin.jpgThe Wolves were outhit by Catawba 10-5 in the come-from-behind 4-2 win Friday night. Courtesy photo

Courtesy of Newberry College