AUSTIN, Texas – The Newman baseball team squared up against St. Edward's who was the No. 1 ranked team in the Heartland Conference standings coming into today's doubleheader, with the Hilltoppers taking both games from NU.
The Jets (28-19, 14-12 Heartland) had a difficult time getting runs across the plate against the Hilltoppers (39-10, 22-4 Heartland), managing to only get one run onto the scoreboard for both games.
In Game 1, St. Edward's would score the first run of the day in the bottom of the second off a single to center field. Jacob Hamerle would get into scoring position for Newman in the top of the third inning, but found himself stranded at second base as the half inning would come to a close.
The Hilltoppers would extend their lead in the bottom of the third, scoring five runs to take their lead to 6-0 after three innings and then scored their last two runs of Game 1, in the bottom of the fifth.
Newman would get another runner in scoring position in the top of the sixth, but a 1-6-3 double play would end the Jets chances of scoring any runs and would eventually go down 1-2-3 in the top of the seventh, to end Game 1.
Nick Griffin went 3-for-3 and accounted for three of the five Jet hits in the contest.
In Game 2, the Jets would score the first run of the game, off a Tyler Bugner single down the left field line that would score Andrew Russell.
Newman held St. Edward's scoreless in the first-three innings but the Hilltoppers would steal the lead from NU in the bottom of the fourth, scoring two runs, to make it 2-1 SEU after four innings.
The Jets would get runners in scoring positions in the top of the fifth, seventh and eigth innings, but couldn't manage to get anyone home after promising starts to all three innings.
St. Edward's would tack on an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth to make it 3-1 heading into the top of the ninth for Newman. The Jets would go down 1-2-3 in the top of the ninth to end the day.
Bugner finished Game 2, going 4-for-5 with two doubles and one RBI.
The Jets will finish their final conference series tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m. and are currently on the outside looking in, into the conference postseason tournament. Live statistics and video will be available at newmanjets.com tomorrow for the series finale.
