NEWBERRY, S.C. -- The Wayne State University baseball team (2-2 overall) took care of business on Sunday at Newberry (6-2 overall) by a score of 6-3 to split the season-opening four-game series.  Next up, the Warriors will face Ohio Dominican for four on Feb. 22-23 at Mason, Ohio's Prasco Park.

Sophomore Gavin Nash (Howell, Mich. / Hartland) twirled five shutout innings for his first collegiate victory.  Nash surrendered two unearned runs on four hits with three walks and six strikeouts.  In relief, Rocco Cardinale (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich. / Grosse Pointe North) pitched a pair of frames, Ethan Getting (Kalamazoo, Mich. / Portage Northern [Purdue Northwest]) handled the eighth and Carson Tehan (LaSalle, Ont. / Sandwich S.S.) slammed the door in the ninth.

At the plate, Wayne State struck first with a pair of runs in the top of the opening inning.  Reagan Paulina (Highland, Mich. / Detroit Catholic Central [Oakland]) doubled Drew Hill (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich. / Grosse Pointe North) to third before Hill scored when Newberry's right fielder missed his cutoff man.  Then, Paulina came around to score thanks to back-to-back groundouts.

After the Wolves cut the deficit in half in the third, Ty Garza (Grosse Ile, Mich. [Barton College]) hit his first home run as a Warrior with a solo shot in the fifth.  Later that inning, Tony Hatzigeorgiou (Oxford, Mich.) scored Caleb Sanders (Eastpointe, Mich. / Detroit Edison Public School Academy [Dayton]) on a sacrifice fly to left.

Trailing 4-1, Newberry made it 4-2 in the home half of the fifth, but Wayne State's offense wasn't done.

In the top of the seventh, Jacoby Dale (Roseville, Mich. [Spring Arbor/Henry Ford CC]) slashed a double down the left field line to push across both Mason McGuire (Lyon Twp., Mich. / Brighton [Mott CC]) and Bennett Hitzelberger (Richmond, Mich.).  That extra-base hit, the Warriors' fourth of the day, gave them a 6-2 edge.

The Wolves slimmed the margin to three in the bottom of the ninth, but it was too little, too late.