LAREDO, Texas – The Newman baseball team faced off against Texas A&M International in today's doubleheader of the three-game Heartland Conference series, with the Jets coming away with a pair of victories.

The Jets (25-16, 11-9 Heartland) took care of business today both offensively and defensively, outscoring the Dustdevils (16-25, 7-13 Heartland) 14-4, while the NU pitchers and fielders kept the opponents offense in check.

Lucas Schauer was the starting pitcher for Newman in Game 1 and had a quality outing, but TAMIU would jump out early in the bottom of the first inning, scoring the first two runs of the game.

The Jets came back out in the top of the second and got two runs on the scoreboard with the help from a Dustdevil error, that scored Brian Canfield and Aaron Mack, to even up the score 2-2.

Newman would get its first lead of Game 1 in the top of the third when Tyler Bugner hit a solo home run to make the score 3-2 in favor of the Jets.

The Dustdevils would answer back in the bottom of the third though, hitting a solo home run of their own to tie the game back up 3-3 after three complete innings.

Neither team could get anything going in the fourth or fifth innings, but the Jets finally broke the tie, scoring two runs in the top of the sixth. Lucas Norton drove in the first run of the inning off of a single to left field and three at-bats later Garett Thomas would single up the middle to drive the last NU run of Game 1 in, to make the score 5-3.

Schauer shut down the Dustdevils in the bottom of the sixth and got two outs in the bottom of the seventh, but Kevin Luman would relieve him to get the final out of Game 1 to secure a 5-3 victory for the Jets. Schauer moved his record to 7-2, while Luman earned his first save of the season.

Newman didn't waste any time getting runs on the board in Game 2, scoring four runs in the top of the first. Thomas would drive in the first run of the game with a single to left field, then the next at-bat Nick Griffin would double to left field to get in another run and Canfield would follow that with a double to left center to get Thomas and Griffin home, to make the score 4-0 NU.

Chase Wilson earned the starting pitching job for NU in Game 2 and did his job of keeping the Dustdevils bats quiet.

The Jets would add another run in the top of the third inning, when Mack hit a solo home run to make the score 5-0. Newman would score two more runs in the top of the sixth, off of a double to left field from Bugner, to extend its lead to 7-0. 

Wilson and the NU fielders did their jobs quite well by only allowing one run to score for TAMIU in Game 2 and that came in the bottom of the sixth inning, to make the score 7-1.

In the top of the seventh, the Jets would get a run home on a walk and Norton would then drive in the last NU run of the day with a single to center field, to put the score at 9-1.

Wilson finished his strong outing by completing the bottom of the seventh, while Skyler Barnes took the bottom of the eighth and Kane McCarthy finished the game for NU in the bottom of the ninth to keep the final score at 9-1 in favor of the Jets. Wilson improved his record to 3-1 on the season.

Bugner would finish the day 4-for-8 with two doubles, one home run, two runs scored and three RBIs, while Thomas went 4-for-9 with one run scored and two RBIs.

After getting the series victory today in Game 2, the Jets will still be looking for a series sweep tomorrow to keep themselves in the chase for the Heartland Conference postseason tournament.

Newman will play its series finale against Texas A&M International tomorrow at noon. Live statistics will be available at newmanjets.com.