NEWBERRY, S.C. | The Young Harris College baseball team split their final two games of the Newberry Round Robin Sunday (Feb. 14) afternoon at the Smith Road Complex.
The Mountain Lions won the opener 12-4 over King (Tenn.) University before seeing host Newberry College rally late to beat Young Harris 10-7 in the nightcap.
Young Harris improved to 4-2 and will travel to Carrollton, Georgia, to face No. 27 University of West Georgia in a 3 p.m. non-conference tilt Tuesday (Feb. 16).
The Mountain Lions belted out 15 hits in the win over the Tornado. Young Harris busted out to a 4-0 lead in the third inning.
Brett Westmoreland tallied an RBI single to left field off King starter P.J. O'Brien (0-1) before
Zach Beggs connected on his team-leading fourth homer – a three-run shot to right-center field – of the year.
Young Harris' lead grew to 7-0 an inning later as the Mountain Lions scored three more times, highlighted by a two-run homer from
Jared Campbell. It was his first of the 2016 campaign.
The Mountain Lions added a run in the sixth and closed out the scoring with two runs in both the seventh and eighth innings. Beggs, who went 3-for-4 with 4 RBI, drove in a run with a sixth-inning single. Campbell, who was 2-for-4, added a RBI double in the seventh while Westmoreland, who was 3-for-5, added a run-scoring single.
Nick Sexton, who went 3-for-5, drove in a run in the eighth with a single to left-center field.
Young Harris starter
Michael Livingston (2-0) limited the Tornado to two runs over seven inning as he scattered seven hits and struck out four.
Troy Kizer also collected two hits for the Mountain Lions, including an eighth-inning double.
The Mountain Lions jumped out to a 3-0 lead against Newberry after pushing across single runs in the first, second and fourth innings.
Zach Wall had a RBI double in the first while Sexton drove in a run in the second with a double of his own.
Casey Selfe added a RBI ground out in the fourth.
Newberry scored four times in the bottom of the fourth to take a 4-3 lead as the Wolves, but Young Harris took the lead right back as they put together a three-run rally in the top of the fifth to open a 6-4 lead. Sexton led off with a triple to center field and later scored on Westmoreland's single to left. Wall accounted for the other two runs with his double to center.
It would stay that way until the Wolves scored three runs in the seventh and eighth inning to take a 10-6 lead. Newberry took advantage of two Young Harris miscues, four walks, a hit batter and a wild pitch to score the six runs.
Westmoreland had a run-scoring single for the Mountain Lions in the ninth to pull within 10-7. Young Harris had two chances with the bases loaded and one out to score more runs, but Newberry reliever Marshall Rentz earned his first save as he thwarted the rally by getting Wall to strike out and Beggs to fly out to end the game.
Cody Beck (0-1) took the loss for the Mountain Lions despite striking out six over 6 2/3 innings. Mike DeLee (3-0) gave up one unearned run in 3 1/3 innings of relief for the Wolves.
Sexton led the Mountain Lions with four hits, while Westmoreland accounted for three more and Wall had two doubles.
