DETROIT -- The 85th season of Wayne State University baseball is here and it will begin in South Carolina.  The Warriors will be at Newberry College (4-0 overall) for a four-game set on Friday through Sunday at the Wolves' Smith Road Complex.  Game one is slated for 4 p.m., Saturday's double dip will commence at 12 p.m. and Sunday's finale begins at noon as well.

Already 4-0 on the young season, Newberry swept a three-game series at Barton on Jan. 31-Feb. 1 thanks to scores of 16-3, 3-1 and 13-9.  Then on Tuesday, the Wolves' unblemished start continued with a 16-6 defeat of Emmanuel (Ga.) in their 2025 home opener.

Through that quartet of contests, the story has obviously been about Newberry's offense as it's hitting .378 with 56 hits in 148 at-bats.  At the forefront of that individually has been sophomore second baseman Bryson Nuckols, who's hitting .625 (10-for-16) without a single strikeout, one triple, four RBI and a pair of walks.  Nuckols is one of five regulars hitting at least .350 along with redshirt-freshman left fielder Wilson Wages (.636), junior shortstop Chandler Mims (.571), senior third baseman Jesse Free (.462) and senior center fielder Kade Faircloth (.353).

On the mound, each of the game's four starting pitchers were victorious.  They were freshman Chansen Cole (1.80 ERA), freshman Jaob Clark (4.50 ERA), senior Hunter French (4.76 ERA) and senior Ethan LeBron (4.76 ERA).

French was a Third Team All-SAC recipient and SAC All-Tournament pick last year after posting a 6-3 record with a 4.53 ERA.  He pitched a team-leading 68.2 innings with a team-high 12 starts.  LeBron was second on the team in wins (4) and starts (10) and has a 16-10 career record in his first three seasons as a Wolf.

Newberry was picked to finish sixth in the 13-team South Atlantic Conference (SAC) preseason poll with 95 points and one of the 13 first-place votes.  The Wolves are coached by first-year leader Jay Snyder who joined the program in 2008 before being promoted to associate head coach in 2014.