GREENWOOD – The Newberry baseball team used a pair of fifth-inning runs Friday night to spoil Lander's grand opening in its brand new Dolny Stadium as the Wolves claimed a 7-5 non-conference victory in front of 1,250 fans.
A 30-minute dedication ceremony was held before the game to officially dedicate the Stephen B. Dolny stadium, one of four venues at the state-of-the art Jeff May Complex.
The Lander-Newberry series, the season openers for both teams, will continue with one game at 5:30 p.m., Saturday, followed by another single game at 2 p.m. Sunday.
Alex Roberts (1-0) earned the win on the mound for Newberry as he struck out one, walked one and allowed one earned run one hit in four innings pitched. Lander starter Ross Davis (0-1) took the loss, striking out six, walking one and allowing five earned runs on five hits in 3.2 innings.
Newberry took a 1-0 led in the first inning when leadoff hitter Kevin Rufus reached third on an error to deep left field then scored on John Fogarile's fielder's choice.
Lander came back in the bottom of the inning to tie the game at 1-1 after leadoff hitter Erik Lunde singled, advanced to second on a wild pitch, to third on Patrick Grady's single and scored on Jordan Owens' sacrifice fly.
The Bearcats took their first lead of the game at 3-1 in the second inning on Lunde's RBI double and Thomas Berry's sacrifice fly.
Newberry came back with three runs in the third to go back up 4-3. Rufus scored on Fogarile's RBI single, Fogarile went home on Andy Vogel's RBI double and Albert Baur drove in Vogel.
Lander's Ian Harvey made it 4-all in the third when he scored on AJ Nunziato's RBI double down the left field line.
The Wolves took the lead for good in the fifth when Rufus's RBI double plated Wesley Camp and Rufus went home on Vogel's groundout to shortstop.
Lander cut it to 6-5 in the seventh on Harvey's sacrifice fly, but Newberry responded with the game's final run in the eighth when Hunter Cox's RBI single plated Vogel.
For Lander, Lunde (2-for-5) and Nunziato (1-for-4) both doubled, while Tisdale went 2-for-4.
For Newberry, Vogel batted 2-for-4 with two doubles, while Rufus (1-for-3) and Evan Darr both had one double.
