WICHITA, Kan. - After a two-week layoff between games, the Newman baseball team squared up against Wayne State for its home opening series, splitting a doubleheader Saturday afternoon at McCarthy Field.

Samuel Hersh earned the start for the Jets for Game 1 of the doubleheader and held the visiting Wildcats scoreless in the first-two innings of the contest. Wayne State would have a 3-0 lead heading into the bottom of the fourth but Newman would tie the score up at 3-3 after four innings.

Paul Rupnik pushed the first-two runs across the plate with a deep double to left center that scored Daniel Jahnke from first and Nick Griffin from second. Ked Bailey would get the final run of the inning across with an RBI single to center field that scored Jahnke.

Newman would break through the following inning and push three more runs across the plate to go out in front 6-3 after five complete innings. Brian Canfield launched a double to left center that got Channing Williams home. Two at-bats later Jahnke would get Canfield home with an RBI groundout, while Rupnik would finish the scoring with an RBI single up the middle that plated Griffin.

The Jets would score one more run in the bottom of the sixth inning off a Canfield single that scored Jacob Hamerle from third to go up 7-3. Newman would hold on to win Game 1 7-4 over the Wildcats, as Avery Chenier earned his first victory of the season.  

For the Jets in Game 2 Wade Winter got the nod on the mound and held Wayne State scoreless in the first inning. It would not take long for Newman to get things going offensively by scoring four runs in the bottom of the first.

A Canfield single through the left side would be the first score in Game 2, which was followed by a Rupnik double that made the score 2-0 early on. The following at-bat Koby Nguyen smacked the ball into left field to score Rupnik and Griffin to go up 4-0 after one inning.

The Wildcats would answer with three runs in the top of the second to cut into the lead but the Jets would score three of their own in bottom of the third to make the score 7-3. Griffin scored from third off a wild pitch but two at-bats later Bailey sent a line drive to center to score Rupnik. The final score for Newman in the bottom of the third came from a Hamerle sacrifice bunt.

The Jets bats would go quiet for the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, while Wayne would claw back into the game by scoring three runs in sixth and four in the seventh to go up 10-7 heading into the bottom of the seventh.

Griffin would be the first run across in the bottom of the seventh, scoring off a wild pitch when the bases were loaded. Bailey would sacrifice fly to center later in the inning that pushed Rupnik across home plate to get within one run at 10-9 after seven innings.

Wayne State extended its lead out to 12-9 after scoring two more runs in the top of the eighth. Rupnik cut into the Wildcat lead with an RBI single to center that scored Aaron Mack from second, which put the score at 12-10 after eight complete innings.

Neither team would get a runner on base in the ninth inning and the Wildcats would hang on to win 12-10 over the Jets in Game 2 of the doubleheader.

Rupnik had himself quite a day going 5-of-6 at the plate, including two doubles and five RBIs to lead the Jets.

Newman is back in action Sunday at noon with a single game to complete the series against Wayne State at McCarthy Field.