COLUMBIA — Newberry’s opportunistic offense and an inspired effort from six Wolves’ pitchers led Newberry to a dominant 15-2 win over Benedict in non conference action in Columbia on Tuesday afternoon.
Newberry (17-12) gave up just two hits in the proverbial “Johnny Wholestaff” victory. Junior left-hander Robert Westenrieder earned his first win of the season by pitching four hitless innings in a predetermined split. He and Tomas Sorcia, Jr. combined to retire 14 of the first 17 batters they faced before a two-run home run provided the Tigers (12-6) with their only offense of the day.
Tyler Fuhr, Shannon Smith, Quinton Driggers, and Barrett Walton each pitched a shutout inning apiece to close out the victory. The quartet mowed down each of the final 10 hitters they faced in a stretch that included five strikeouts, including two by Driggers.
The Wolves recorded 10 hits on the day, their 16th time reaching double figures in the hit column. Newberry also collected 10 walks, their third-most this season, on their way to their sixth game of 2017 with at least 10 runs scored.
No Newberry players had multiple hits in the contest despite three Wolves scoring two runs apiece. Colin Santiago had a game-high three RBI’s on a bases-clearing triple as part of a five-run ninth inning.
Daymon Totherow’s first home run of the season, a two-run shot to right center in the fourth inning that broke a scoreless tie, made the Wolves’ right fielder the only other player with multiple runs batted in. Seven others had one apiece.
Newberry spread its offense over the final two-thirds of the game. The Wolves finally broke through on Totherow’s homer in the fourth and finished the game by scoring in five of the final six innings.
The biggest blow came in a six-run sixth inning that saw run-scoring hits from Trejon Smith and Ben Herring followed by a Jeff Sneed sacrifice fly.
The win gives Newberry its fifth win in a row and 13th in its last 17 contests.