Newberry, S.C. – The University of Findlay baseball team snapped a seven-game skid on Thursday, Feb. 29 with a victory against Newberry College in Newberry, S.C. The Oilers picked up a 7-2 victory to improve to 2-7 on the year while the Wolves fall to 4-12.
Senior Aiden Lao singled to start off the game and would reach third with just one out, but a pick off and a fly out ended the threat.
Both teams traded zeros until Findlay's top of the fourth inning. Sophomore Andrew Williams walked with one out and advanced on a fielder's choice. After a hit by pitch, freshman Nick Palm singled to center to bring in the first run and senior Cole Kwiatkowski doubled to left, sending two more home. That 3-0 lead would stand up the remainder of the game.
Newberry finally on the board in the fifth and in the sixth, loaded the bases with no outs. Starter Logan Bragg coaxed a fly out and senior Sebastian Jones entered the game in relief, picking up a pair of ground outs to end the inning with no more damage.
That effort jumpstarted the offense in the top of the seventh as Findlay would put up four runs in the frame, all with two outs. The first two batters of the inning were retired. After that a walk, two singles, a double, another single, and another walk all happened consecutively as the Oilers left the inning with a 7-1 advantage.
An unearned run in the eighth made it 7-2 but that was not nearly enough as Findlay came away with the five-run victory.
Both teams finished with 11 hits in the game. Findlay had two errors while Newberry had none.
Kwiatkowski and Palm finished the day with two hits and two RBI each while senior Andrew Micale, who recorded the RBI double in the big seventh inning, finished two-for-three with an RBI and two runs scored. Williams also had two hits and a run scored.
Senior Logan Bragg got the win on the hill to improve to 1-1 on the season. He tossed 5.1 innings and allowed just one earned run on eight hits. He walked on and struck out three in his best outing of the year thus far. Jones, who got the Oilers out of that bases loaded jam in the sixth, earned a save by way of the three-inning of effective relief rule. Jones tossed 3.2 innings and allowed one run, none earned, on three hits. He struck out one.
Findlay and Newberry will tangle again on Friday, Mar. 1 at 5 pm for the second of a three-game series.
