The Newberry Wolves started the 2022 season with a walk off win against Augusta University Feb. 4.
NEWBERRY — Taking the diamond for the first time this season, the Newberry College (1-0) baseball team picked up a walk-off win.
Redshirt junior Braylin Marine’s (Freeport, N.Y.) sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth gave the Wolves the 5-4 win over the Jaguars of Augusta University at the Smith Road Complex on February 4.
Newberry was led by sophomore Jacob LeBron (Lexington) who tallied a pair of hits on the day. Redshirt sophomore Henry Gibson (Walterboro) pitched in a three RBI performance in the contest with a three-run blast in the first.
Redshirt junior Joe LaFiora (Philadelphia, Penn.) got the ball to start the contest for the Wolves but it was sophomore Johnathan White (Simpsonville) who picked up the win in relief as he tossed a pair of scoreless innings while striking out a pair. LaFiora recorded five Ks on the day while sophomore Rylan Brown (Spartanburg) notched two and redshirt junior Kyle Baker (Gaston) sat down a trio.
The scoring started immediately in the game after a defensive miscue by the Wolves, the Jags were able to capitalize with a two-run shot in the top of the first to take the early 2-0 lead. However, defense would plague the Jags in the bottom of the frame as a pair of errors scored one run and a HBP set up the three-run home run by Gibson that gave the Wolves a 4-2 lead after one.
Augusta added another run as Markiewic knocked his second homer of the day to pull the score back up to 4-3.
The teams struggled to find their rhythm until the eighth inning when Augusta was able scratch across a run in the top of the eighth to pull back even with the Wolves. While Newberry couldn’t respond in the bottom of the eighth, White gave the Wolves the chance they needed by sitting down the Jags in the top of the ninth with no offensive production.
After a fly out to leadoff the bottom of the ninth, the Wolves were able to draw a walk and another defensive miscue by the Jags to put runners one second and third with just one out on the board. Marine only needed to see two pitches in his at-bat as he took the second pitch for a ride to centerfield it was deep enough to allow graduate student Ian Clements (Upper Marlboro, Md.) to scamper the final 90 feet needed to secure the 5-4 victory.