Brevard, N.C. – The Brevard College men’s baseball team played the Newberry College Indians to an even battle for eight innings on Friday afternoon, before giving up three runs in the ninth to fall to the Indians 6-2 at Gil Coan Field on the campus of Brevard College.

 

The Tornados struggled offensively, as the Indians starting pitcher Josh McElwee struck out 17 BC hitters over the nine inning contest.

 

The visiting Newberry Indians got on the board in the first, as Nick Martin scored on a Thomas Berryhill single to right field to put the Indians up early 1-0.

 

Brevard answered back in the bottom of the fifth, as right-fielder Brice Warner doubled down the left field line with one out. After senior Luke Lovelace drew a base-on-balls, fellow senior Justin Frady hit a shot down the left-field line for an RBI double as Warner scored from second. 

 

Three batter’s later, with the bases loaded, Lovelace scored from third on a wild pitch to put the Tornados up 2-1.

 

However, that was the only runs that the Tornados pushed across for the game, as Newberry scored two runs in the seventh on an Martin double down the left field line and a BC throwing error to pull ahead 3-2.

 

Newberry tacked on three runs in the top of the ninth to push the lead to 6-2 and help secure the road win.

 

Newberry’s McElwee (2-4) got the complete game win, allowing two runs, one earned, on eight hits, while striking out a season-high 17 hitters.

 

The loss went to BC junior hurler Spencer Linn (1-3) who gave up six runs, four of which were earned, on 15 hits while striking out six over 8.2 innings of action.

 

Leading the way for the Tornados offensively was sophomores Josh Miller and Mitch Hefner who were both 2-4 on the day. First-baseman Justin Frady was 1-4 with a double and an RBI.

 

At the plate for the Indians, first-baseman David Tunstill was 3-5 with a double, a run scored and an RBI. Fellow teammate Thomas Berryhill was 3-5 with a double, a run scored and two RBIs, while designated hitter Nick Martin was 2-5 with a double, two runs score and an RBI.

 

The loss drops the Tornados to 8-17 for the year, while Newberry improves to 10-19 with the win.

 

The two teams will wrap up the three-game series tomorrow afternoon with a double-header. The first pitch of the opening game is slated for 12 noon.

 

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