FORT SMITH, Ark. - It took two extra frames, but the Newman baseball team was able to close its 2012 regular season campaign on a high note with a 3-1 win over Arkansas-Fort Smith Saturday evening at Crowder Field in Fort Smith, Ark. The win secured the No. 3 seed for the Jets in next week's Heartland Conference Baseball Championship tournament.

Neither team found much luck in the opening two innings. Newman (27-21, 20-16 Heartland) finally put itself on the board in what amounted to a comedy of Arkansas-Fort Smith (27-20, 19-16 Heartland) errors in the third inning. With two outs in the frame, Jake Gaul was hit by a pitch, then moved to second when Terrell Brown walked. An errant throw from the catcher helped Tyler Hancock reach base, and plated Gaul, but Ruben Marrero's fly-out to right field ended the inning, but the Jets held a 1-0 lead.

It looked like that one run may be all that Newman starter Jacob Furr needed. The sophomore southpaw pitched six innings of shutout baseball, allowing just four hits with five strikeouts and two walks. His potential win was taken away in the seventh, when the Lions drilled a solo bomb off of reliever Mikey Lack. Tony Gonzales relieved Lack almost immediately, and stopped the bleeding for the remainder of the inning.

The game remained knotted at 1-1 into the 11th inning, when the Jets scored a pair of runs. Terrell Brown opened the inning with a single up the middle, then moved to second on Tyler Hancock's sacrifice. Ruben Marrero followed with a ground-out to first that advanced Brown to third, but Corey Cowan's single made sure Brown scored, and gave the Jets the lead and the momentum. Cowan went on to score himself on Tanner Vinson's single to right field, and gave Newman the 3-1 lead it went on to win by.

Terrell Brown and David Longmore each recorded multi-hit outings in the win. Brown finished 2-for-4 with a run scored, while Longmore went 2-for-5.

Gage Daniels picked up his second win of the season in a four-inning outing in which he allowed three hits and threw three strikeouts, and did not allow a run.

With the win, the Jets improve to 27-21 on the season, and 20-16 in Heartland Conference play. Newman will be the No. 3 seed in the Heartland Conference Championship Tournament, and will play second-seeded St. Edward's at 1 p.m. on Thursday in San Antonio, Texas. Due to construction on the baseball field at St. Mary's, the tournament will be played at Sullivan Field on the campus of the University of the Incarnate Word.

Next up for the Jets is an exhibition contest with Wichita's independent minor league team, the Wichita Wingnuts, on Tuesday. First pitch is slated for 7:05 p.m. at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium.