WICHITA, Kan. — With its first series of the season under its belt, the Newman baseball team makes its home debut against Wayne State (Neb.) at McCarthy Field this Saturday and Sunday, with doubleheaders starting both days at noon.

SCOUTING NEWMAN

The Jets (1-2) were involved in a wild weekend of baseball to open their 2016 season. They got the year started with a win by putting up four runs in the top of the ninth to top Southwestern Oklahoma State last Friday in the first game of a doubleheader. In Saturday's series finale, Newman charged back after going down 11-1 to make a game of it before falling to the Bulldogs 13-12.

LEADERS

                Tyler Bugner, Junior-.444 avg., 1 run, 2 RBIs, 2 SB

                Garett Thomas, Senior-.417 avg., 3 runs, 1 double, 1 HR, 2 RBIs

                Lucas Norton, Senior-.300 avg., 2 runs, 2 doubles, 1 RBI

                Lucas Schauer, Junior-1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 CG, 1 shutout, 9 IP, 4 BB, 3 SO

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT

The Wildcats make their season debut at McCarthy Field for the second straight season. The teams split a four-game series a year ago, as WSC went on to finish the season above .500 at 27-24, and won 11 of their final 14 games of the regular season to go 22-14 in conference and qualify for the NSIC postseason.

                LEADERS (2015 Stats)

                Nathan Ackerman, Senior-.323 avg., 46 runs, 17 doubles, 14 HR, 48 RBIs

                Eric Browning, Senior-4-5, 2.94 ERA, 3 CG, 1 shutout, 67.1 IP, 30 BB, 76 SO

NOTES

-The Jets started off last season's series against the Wildcats with a 14-3 victory before falling 4-1 and 5-3 in the middle two games of the series. The offense came back to life in the finale, which the Jets won 8-0.

-Bugner hit 7-for-15, scoring four runs in total in the series, while Thomas was 5-for-15 with four runs as well. Schauer tossed a seven-inning shutout in the 8-0 win in the final game of the series, allowing four hits while walking none and striking out five.

-That was the lone shutout of Schauer's career entering this season, but he matched that in one try to start 2016, blanking SWOSU last weekend in the first game of the season. The junior went all nine innings, allowing just four hits.

COVERAGE

Live statistics for all four games of the series will be available at www.newmanjets.com.