WICHITA, Kan. — The offense was clicking for both teams Sunday afternoon, but not at the same time, as Newman and Augustana traded lopsided wins to finish a four-game nonconference series with a doubleheader split at McCarthy Field.
The Jets (12-5) couldn't be stopped at the plate during the first game, an 18-7 victory that saw them crack 12 hits. The Vikings (4-3) returned the favor though, using 18 hits to earn a 16-5 win in the series finale to go home with a split.
The Jets put up crooked numbers in four of the six innings they came to bat in the first game, starting with Lucas Norton and Tyler Bugner beginning the bottom of the first inning with back-to-back singles and scoring when Aaron Mack and Garett Thomas turned in back-to-back RBI groundouts.
After the Vikings put up two runs each in the second and third innings to jump out to a two-run lead, Thomas added a few more RBIs and total bases by lifting a two-run home run to right center less than 24 hours after a two-run bomb to the same spot sent the Jets into the night as walk-off winners. That tied things up at 4-4, and Newman took the lead for good with the first of two big innings in the fourth.
The Jets batted around in the fourth, starting with an error, a walk and a hit by pitch to load the bases. A wild pitch followed and allowed Mitchell Beaudreau to scamper home and put the hosts in front before Bugner smacked a double over the left fielder's head to score two more. Mack followed in the next at-bat with a single to score Bugner, and Thomas lifted a sacrifice fly to left to plate Bugner and make it 9-4.
That lead began to slip away over the course of the next two innings, as the Vikings pushed a lone run across in the fifth and then two more in the top of the sixth to make it a two-run game. Newman responded to the challenge with an even bigger inning, putting six batters on base before the first out was recorded, sending 13 batters to the plate in all and watching as nine runs crossed the plate.
The big frame was keyed by a pair of two-run home runs for the Jets, with Thomas getting his third of the weekend on an inside-the-park shot that beat the fielders to the gap. Norton smacked a home run of a more conventional variety later in the inning for the final runs of the game.
Corey Mondello finished out the top of the seventh with a 1-2-3 inning to preserve the win, going the final two innings allowing just one hit while striking out four. Ryan Jenkins picked up the win after sitting the Vikings down in order in the fourth inning before the Jets took the lead.
Norton and Bugner each cracked three hits and scored four runs in the game, combining for five RBIs. Thomas drove a run in every time he went to the plate, finishing 2-for-2 with two runs and six driven in. The 18 runs poste by the Jets were the most since putting up the same number in an 18-2 win over East Central on Feb. 9, 2014. The last time Newman scored more was when it topped Oklahoma Panhandle State 19-5 on April 7, 2012.
The Vikings returned the favor a bit in the series finale, preserving a split over the four games by scoring runs in each of the first four innings and not slowing down from there. The guests also picked up six innings of four-hit ball from starting pitcher Ryne Lees, who shut down the hosts for nearly the entire game.
Newman was able to get to him briefly in the bottom of the sixth, when Brian Canfield worked a two-out walk and Jordan Doan cranked another two-run shot for the Jets, lifting it over the left field fence and off the scoreboard to get the hosts in the books. After the Vikings went to the bullpen, Newman was able to scrape across three more in the seventh, as Andrew Russell led off with a single and scored on Bugner's groundout, Mack doubled to score Norton and Thomas singled in Mack.
Norton and Thomas each went 2-for-3 for the Jets in the nightcap, while Doan drove in a pair of runs with his homer.
The Jets are back in action Tuesday, hosting Emporia State in a single nonconference game at 3 p.m. back at McCarthy Field.
