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HARTSVILLE – Wrapping up their final weekend of conference regular season play, the No. 16 Newberry College (37-11, 19-5 SAC) baseball team secured the second seed in the upcoming South Atlantic Conference (SAC) Tournament with a doubleheader sweep of Coker University on April 23.
The Wolves picked up wins of 10-1 and 4-0 on the back of a pair of brilliant outings from the freshman pitching duo of Tyler Chinpire (Jupiter, Fla.) and Ethan LeBron (Lexington). Chinpire tossed five innings in the first game of the day, allowing just one run on three hits. LeBron picked up his eighth win of the season by going six innings, allowing just three hits while striking out five. LeBron combined with junior Dylan Brazell (West Columbia) to complete a combined shutout.
Sophomore Henry Gibson (Walterboro) recorded five RBIs in the opening contest, while freshman Jomar Lugo (San Sebastian, Puerto Rico) knocked in a pair in the first game and added another in the nightcap. The Wolves recorded 21 hits over the two games.
A pair of singles got the first base runners aboard for the Wolves in the opener, and the first of them came around to score on a sacrifice fly ball by Gibson to give Newberry the early 1-0 advantage. However, the Wolves wasted no time growing that lead as they added five more runs in the top of the second inning. Newberry used four hits over the inning, including a pair of doubles to score those runs.
The Wolves tallied another run in each of the next two innings as well. The Cobras broke up the shutout with a single run in the bottom of the third, but the Wolves took the 8-1 lead into the fifth inning. That was the first inning that Newberry was held scoreless, but they got right back to it in the top of the sixth with a pair of runs to extend their lead to 10-1. Both pitching staffs were able to keep the other team off the board over the remainder of the contest, giving the Wolves the 10-1 win in game one.
In the nightcap, the Wolves continued their scoring with junior Braylin Marine (Freeport, N.Y.) recording the first RBI with a double to center field that brought around the first run and again gave them a 1-0 lead. Both teams went silent until the top of the fourth where the Wolves scored the other three runs in the game.
A pair of singles and a sacrifice fly brought around the runs for the Wolves while LeBron continued to work on the mound, holding the Cobras scoreless through six. Brazell came in to replace him in relief in the bottom of the seventh and made quick work of the Coker offense as he struck out a pair in his only inning of work to secure the 4-0 shutout win.
The Wolves will travel to Kodak, Tenn. to take part in the SAC Tournament at the Tennessee Smokies minor league ballpark. The Wolves enter the tournament as the No. 2 seed and will await the results from the first day of action for their first opponent. The Wolves’ first game will be 2:45 p.m. on Friday, April 29.