SW Virginia News

herePRINKLETON HOMERS TWICE IN LOSS TO NO. 23 NEWBERRY

No. 23 Newberry scored a doubleheader South Atlantic Conference baseball sweep of UVA Wise by scores of 11-4 and 13-9 at Stallard Field Saturday. The visiting Wolves lined 23 combined hits in the sweep with leadoff man Donovan Ford reaching base safely seven times on the day.

Newberry (21-4, 7-1 SAC) never trailed on the day as the visitors struck for three runs in the top of the first of game one.

Jacob Lebron had a sacrifice fly in the inning before a run-scoring hit by Jonathan Velez put UVA Wise (9-18, 1-7 SAC) in the early deficit.

An inning later, Braylin Marine lined a two-run double and the Wolves were on top 5-0.

The early scoring continued as Newberry scored a single run in the fourth when Ford came home on a caught stealing. The guests tacked on another run in the fifth frame on a Brody Winter RBI single to lead 7-0.

Marine essentially put the game out of reach with a 3-run homer in the sixth to make it a 10-0 affair.

The Cavaliers scored their first run of the day when Nick Badgett scampered home on a wild pitch in the home sixth only to see Winter push the lead back to double digits at 11-1 with an RBI single in the top of the seventh.

UVA Wise scored three times in the ninth as Justin Reed lined a two-run homer before it was followed by a solo homer from Jeb Hurst. It would be as close as the Cavs could get as Brad Brooks would record the final two outs to preserve the 11-4 triumph.

Bennett Roemer (5-0) remained unbeaten on the mound as he tossed six innings, fanned four, walked three, allowed two hits and a run over 93 pitches.

Ford finished 3-for-3 with four runs scored and two walks in the opener with Marine knocking in five for the winners.

Reed was the only UVA Wise player with multiple hits, the designated hitter finished 2-for-3 with a walk.

Game two saw Newberry score three runs again in the top of the first. This time, Marine had an RBI groundout, Velez doubled in a run and Jesse Free doubled in a run.

Cole Harness would get the Cavs within two with an RBI groundout in the home half of the first but, Brandon Costa's team would leave the bases loaded.

The Wolves went on top 7-1 after 1 1/2 innings as the trio of Marine, Velez and Free did the damage again. Marine had a two-run double with Velez and Free each having an RBI.

D'Sean Prinkleton belted a long homer over the left field wall in the third to make it 7-2 only to see three in the fourth, two coming on a Free two-run homer.

Trailing 10-2 the hosts would get back in the game in the fifth when Prinkleton hit his second homer of the day, this time a three-run blast making it a 10-5 contest.

An error would allow the lead to swell to 11-5 in the top of the sixth before the Cavs would get within two thanks to a four-run home sixth.

A pair of wild pitches would let UVA Wise get within four at 11-7 before Reed's two-run single made it an 11-9 game.

Gibson would double for Newberry in the top of the seventh allowing two runs to score and Joe LaFiora would record the game's final five outs to earn his first save of the season.

Prinkleton knocked in four and scored three times in the loss while Ford went 2-for-4 with a walk to cap his big day for Newberry.

Free finished 2-for-2 with four RBI with Velez going 3-for-4 with three RBI for the Wolves.

The same two teams will be back at it tomorrow when the series concludes with a single nine inning game slated for 1 p.m.

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