WICHITA - Matt Cardona's eighth-inning solo blast gave the Newman baseball team a 4-3 win over Texas-Permian Basin Sunday afternoon at McCarthy Field. Cardona's home run also gave the Jets a 2-1 series win over the defending Heartland Conference champions from Odessa, Texas.

Texas-Permian Basin (16-9, 16-9 Heartland) took an early one-run lead in the top of the second. Newman (10-11, 10-10 Heartland) countered with a run of its own in the bottom of the second. Trent Bierman opened the inning with a double to the right-center field gap, then advanced to second on a Matt Cardona single to third base. Dale Steele loaded the bases for the Jets with a bunt that advanced all runners, and loaded the bases for Newman before UTPB could record an out. Brett Delcambre rewarded Bierman's work earlier in the inning with a sacrifice fly to right that allowed Bierman to score from third, but UTPB retired the side to end the Jet threat.

The cream-clad Falcons re-claimed the lead, tallying another single run in the top of the third to take a 2-1 lead, but again the Jets had an answer. This time, Ryan Peterson opened the inning with a double to right field. A wild pitch by UTPB's Mario Urena moved Peterson to third, while Picos Soto followed with a single to second base to score Peterson. Each of Newman's next two batters were retired, but the game remained knotted at 2-2.

After a scoreless fourth, UTPB put yet another solo run on the board in the fifth, taking a 3-2 lead. It took the Jets a while longer to counter this time around, but Bierman was on the scene yet again in the sixth inning. After being walked to open the inning, Bierman used another Urena passed ball to advance to second, then scored on a Delcambre RBI double to the left-center field gap, tying the game at 3-3 with three innings remaining.

Eric Hansen was called on to relieve Mile Williams on the hill for Newman in the sixth inning, and held the Falcons at bay for the remainder of the game, surrendering just one hit and recording one strikeout, and leaving the game in the hands of the Newman bats. That's when Cardona took advantage of a tired Urena and sent an eighth-inning pitch over to right-center field wall to give the Jets the 4-3 lead they would hold on to win by.

Hansen recorded his first win in the outing, improving to 1-0 on the season, while Urena was hit with the loss for UTPB, and dropped to 3-4 on the season.

With the win, the Jets improve to 10-11 on the season, and 10-10 in Heartland Conference play. They will return to action Tuesday when the Lincoln Blue Tigers pay a visit to McCarthy Field for a double-header starting at noon.