Courtesy of Newberry College Athletics
NEWBERRY — Freshman Bennet Roemer (Bluffton) struck out 15 batters in relief, tying the third-most in a single game in program history, as the Newberry College (6-2) baseball team picked up a 10-6 win over the Rams of Shepherd University to kick-off a three-game weekend on Friday, February 17 at Smith Road Complex.
Roemer pitched six and one-third innings in the contest allowing just three hits and one earned run, facing 24 batters on the night. Seven of his 15 strikeouts came in three straight pitches, including shutting down a bases loaded opportunity in his first batter faced.
Freshman Brody Winter (Anderson) and junior Rhett Jolly (Edgefield) each recorded a pair of RBIs on the night while junior Jacob LeBron (Lexington), senior Braylin Marine (Freeport, N.Y.), junior Henry Gibson (Walterboro) and sophomore Jomar Lugo (San Sebastian, P.R.) each pitched in an RBI on the night as well. Winter and Gibson both recorded a trio of hits, the lone Wolves to record multi-hit contests.
The Rams got off to a hot start in the contest, after dropping their earlier match in the day to Coker, as they looked to rebound with a single run in the top of the first. The Wolves, however, were retired in order in the bottom half of the frame and returned the favor in the top of the second before getting on the board in the bottom of the second with a two-spot. Gibson kicked off the frame with a single up the middle before being moved over by a sacrifice bunt. Winter recorded his first RBI with a single through the left side and was later plated by a wild pitch to give the Wolves the 2-1 lead.
Shepherd tallied four runs in the top of the third inning to swing the advantage back in their direction, but Newberry responded with a run of their own in the bottom half of the inning to bring the Rams lead back to just two. Some crafty base running in the bottom of the fourth by Newberry plated another run for the Wolves and brought the margin to just one.
The Rams notched another run in the top of the sixth, but Newberry took the lead for the final time in the bottom of the sixth as they were able to scratch across three runs off a Winter double and a pair of sacrifice flies by Jolly and Lugo to take the 7-6 advantage. Roemer continued to work as he struck out a pair of batters in the seventh and then got further run support from the offense in the bottom as Marine tallied a sacrifice fly to extend the lead to two.
Roemer retired the Rams in order in the top of the eighth while the Wolves added another pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth. Two more strikeouts were added to Roemer’s tally, including the final out of the evening to wrap up the 10-6 win for Newberry.