SAN ANTONIO, Texas - A 4-for-4 performance from Tyler Hancock, and a seven-strikeout outing from Kyle Burkhardt led the Newman baseball team to an 8-4 win over St. Edward's Friday afternoon in the opening game of the Heartland Conference Baseball Championship. Newman advances to play top-seeded St. Mary's with the win.

St. Edward's (35-13) struck in the first inning, tagging Newman (28-21) starter Kyle Burkhardt for a run on two hits to take a 1-0 advantage.

The Jets plated their first runs in the third. Ben Wagner opened the frame with a double down the left field line, then scored on a sacrifice fly to centerfield off Tyler Hancock's bat. Terrell Brown, who reached on an infield single, became Newman's second run of the game when he scored on a fielding error in right field to give Newman a 2-1 advantage.

Brown scored Newman's next run in the fifth. After tripling to left-center, the redshirt-freshman second baseman scored when Hancock singled through the right side and gave the Jets a 3-1 lead.

Not to be out-done, the Hilltoppers rallied for a run in the fifth, and two more in the sixth to take a 4-3 lead; one they held until the eighth inning.

Newman notched back-to-back hits off SEU starter Jeff Rohrbach to open the eighth, putting a pair of runners on base, and forcing Hilltopper skipper Rob Penders to insert Stephen Johnson, the junior right-hander who has touched 100 mph on multiple occasions this season. The move may have come too late for Penders. A bunt from Corey Cowan loaded the bases for David Longmore, who doubled to the gap in right-center, and scored all three of Newman's base runners. The double gave the Jets a 6-4 lead, and left the Hilltoppers scrambling. Johnson struck out the final two Jets of the inning, but the damage had been done.

The Jets added two more runs in the ninth, and the Hilltoppers had no answer. The 8-4 win pushed the third-seeded Jets into the championship sem-final, and sent the second-seeded Hilltoppers to the consolation bracket.

Tyler Hancock recorded four of Newman's 15 hits to lead the Jets' offensive attack. Hancock finished 4-for-4 at the plate, with two runs scored and three more batted in. Terrell Brown, Ruben Marrero, Corey Cowan and David Longmore each recorded two-hit games in the winning effort.

Tony Gonzales picked up the win, throwing 2.2 innings of hitless baseball in relief of starter Kyle Burkhardt, who fanned seven Hilltoppers in 5.1 innings on the mound.

With the win, the Jets improve to 28-21 on the season. They advance to play top-seeded, and No. 2 nationally-ranked St. Mary's Saturday in the championship semi-final at 3:30 p.m.