Rallying to Victory: Newberry’s Thrilling Comeback

By Raegan Churi and Hailey Livesay

NEWBERRY — The Newberry Panthers baseball team scored twice in the sixth inning to overtake the Oak Hall Eagles 3-2 Wednesday night.

Tight Early Innings

After a hit from Aaron Atkins, Oak Hall (8-5) scored two minutes into the game with a first-inning run. In the bottom half of the first, Newberry (18-4) took advantage of Troy Freeman’s inconsistent start when he walked three batters. Josh Morison responded with a RBI to tie the score at 1-1.

Oak Hall’s Troy Freeman with a strikeout to get them out of the third inning

Score still stays at 1-1#pitcher #newberrypanthers #oakhalleagles #espngainesville pic.twitter.com/x2NTUyWqCt

— Hailey Livesay (@HaileyLivesay) April 17, 2024

Both teams played extraordinary defense to keep the score at 1-1 until the fifth. After stealing second, Jackson Beach got ambitious and attempted to steal third where he was stopped by the Panthers’ defense.

Then Oak Hall outfielder Darion Medley had a great diving catch to end the second inning.

Pitching Perfection

Newberry pitcher Zach Marriott had a solid start with five strikeouts in the five innings before he was replaced by Ben Beck, who dominated with this fastball. He had two strikeouts in two innings and allowed no hits.

Newberry’s Ben Beck gets them out of the top of the sixth inning with a strikeout

2-1 Eagles up#espngainesville #newberrypanthers #oakhalleagles #baseball #FHSA pic.twitter.com/quDca1FuBo

— Hailey Livesay (@HaileyLivesay) April 17, 2024

Freeman developed momentum as the game went on and struck out five batters in six innings with only one run allowed. He was a key component of Oak Hall’s early success until he was taken out and replaced by Beach.

Panther Parade

After Oak Hall took a 2-1 lead in the fifth inning, Newberry answered in the sixth.

Freeman hit Tavis Honeycutt with the first pitch of the inning. Tristan Woodrome then beat out a bunt. Right before exiting the game, Freeman threw a wild pitch that advanced the runners to second and third. Desmond Taylor greeted Beach with a line-drive single to right field to score both runners. Taylor was picked off first to end the inning.

Up Next

On Friday, Newberry plays at the Dunnellon Tigers (13-7) at 7 p.m., while Oak Hall hosts Seven Rivers Christian Warriors (6-12) at 4:15 p.m.