AIKEN — A three-run fifth inning followed by a four-run seventh were too much for No. 3 Newberry to overcome as the Wolves fell to USC Aiken 12-3 in their final nonconference game of the season.
Newberry (36-11) pounded out 10 hits in the game but stranded 12 runners on the basepaths, hitting .200 (4-for-20) with runners on base and .091 (1-for-11) with runners in scoring position. Defensively, the Wolves committed a trio of costly errors leading to four unearned runs by the Pacers (22-17).
Tuesday night marked just the sixth time in 47 games that Newberry’s normally potent offense has scored three runs or fewer in a game. The Wolves entered the contest having scored at least five runs in 13 of their last 17 outings.
The Pacers plated an unearned run in the first inning before Kenny Bergmann’s first home run in Scarlet and Gray evened the score in the second. USC Aiken had stretched its lead to 3-1 entering the bottom of the fifth when the Pacers began to break the game open.
USC Aiken used two hits, two wild pitches, a sacrifice bunt, a sacrifice fly, and a walk to score three runs in the inning. They were held off the board in the sixth but roared back for four runs, three of which were unearned, on three hits and a pair of errors in the seventh that broke the game open.
The four-run seventh came after Newberry scratched across a run in the top of the frame on Colin Allman’s RBI groundout. The Wolves got another run in the eighth when a pair of one-out walks and a passed ball set the table for Dalton Lansdowne’s squeeze bunt to score an unearned run in the form of Peyton Spangler.
Chase Barbary tied his career high in hits with 3-for-3 outing, and also drew a walk, to pace the Newberry offense. Danton Hyman and Kenny Bergmann had two hits apiece. Newberry collected seven walks as a team in addition to its 10 hits.
Jonathan Elicier suffered the loss to fall to 2-3 on the season by giving up two runs on three hits in a pair of relief innings. Each team used six pitchers in the contest, with none of the Newberry hurlers throwing longer than 2.1 innings.
With its nonconference schedule complete, Newberry turns its attention to this weekend’s series at Lincoln Memorial that will decide the South Atlantic Conference regular season championship. Newberry will clinch the title with one win, while the Railsplitters must sweep the series. Both teams are seeking their first-ever regular season SAC championship.