NEWBERRY, S.C. - After dropping an 8-2 decision to Newberry in the opener, the Anderson baseball team bounced back to claim a come-from-behind, 8-7, win in the nightcap Saturday afternoon at the Smith Road Complex.
Anderson improved to 19-26 overall and 9-12 in the South Atlantic Conference, while Newberry moved to 29-16-1 and 11-10.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Game #1
Newberry 8, Anderson 2
Senior Steven Cooper was on base three times in the opener, with a
single and a pair of walks, while senior LJ Newman was 2-for-4.
Junior Steven McKnight was 1-for-3 with his fourth home run of the
season.
Junior Ryan Owens (3-5) absorbed the loss, while allowing seven runs off six hits in four innings of work. The right-hander struck out one and walked five.
Game #2
Anderson 8, Newberry 7
Newman reached base twice and scored both times, with freshman
Carson Barrett hammering his sixth homer of the season as part of a
3-for-4 performance in the nightcap. He added a double and a single
and drove in three runs. Junior Xavier Peralta also drove in three
runs, including the game-winning score with a two-run double in the
seventh inning.
Mitchell Cooksey earned the win, while working 2 1/3 innings of relief. He gave up three runs on five hits, while striking out two. Senior Brock Goodling earned his league-leading 12th save of the year with a perfect final inning of relief.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Game 1
The Wolves built an eight-run advantage with a pair of runs in the
second inning, one in the fourth, four in the fourth inning and
another run in the sixth.
AU avoided the shutout when McKnight belted his two-run homer with no outs in the top of the ninth inning.
Game 2
The nightcap was a back-and-forth affair, with the Wolves taking an
early 1-0 lead with a run in the first frame, while the Trojans
evened the score with a
Run in the second and took a brief lead with a solo run in the
fourth on McKnight's two-out RBI-single.
Newberry countered with a four-run fourth inning to take a 5-2
advantage, before Barrett answered for the Black and Gold by
pulling his three-run homer down the right-field line and knotting
the score at five apiece.
The Wolves regained a brief 7-5 lead in the bottom of the sixth,
but Bailey led off the seventh inning by beating out an infield
single, with Cooper and Newman notching back-to-back walks to load
the bases. With two outs, Bailey raced home on a wild pitch to trim
the deficit to two and Peralta followed by ripping a two-out double
down the line to plate both pinch-runner Jackson Strange and Newman
with the go-ahead run.
Goodling did not allow a baserunner in the bottom of the seventh.
ANDERSON STAT OF THE DAY
Barrett, McKnight and Newman combined for seven of AU's 12 hits on
the day.
NOTABLES
• Goodling has notched a save in seven of his last eight
appearances out of the bullpen
• Cooper has reached base safely in 32 of his last 34 games,
while drawing a walk 25 times in his last 14 games.
• Barrett has gotten on base in 16 of his last 17 games, while
recording five multi-hit games in his last nine games.
• Senior LJ Newman has recorded 21 hits in his last 13
games.
UP NEXT
Anderson returns to the diamond on Tuesday for a nonconference
contest at Southern Wesleyan. First-pitch is slated for 6 p.m., as
the Trojans will be looking for their first win in four meetings
this season with the Warriors.
