BETHANY, Okla. – Newman waited and waited for opening day. Pushed back from an original Thursday start date, the Jets finally took the field against Southern Nazarene at Putnam City Sunday afternoon. The Storm and Jets split on opening day with SNU taking game one 9-4 and the Jets coming out victorious in game 2 with a 4-0 shutout.
Both teams are now 1-1 on the young season and will ensure for a highly contested second day as both teams work to start the season off on their best foot. Monday's doubleheader is set to begin at 10 AM over at Putnam City High.
Game 1:
Newman struggled to capitalize off of runners on base. The Jets left 10 runners on base. Storm pitcher Payne Maga had the Jets frustrated all day. Despite not striking out a single Jet, Maga held the Jets scoreless through 6 innings.
Trailing 8-0, Newman worked to cut the lead down.
Jenner Steele came up in the 7
th inning with two runners on and stung a ball to right field for a 2 RBI triple to start the Newman scoring.
Dalton Smith followed up by knocking in Steele with a single up the middle. Steele and Smith drove in another run each in the 9
th after the Strom added an insurance run to keep the Jets at bay. SNU took game 1 9-5.
Game 2:
The second game introduced
Asher Finke to Newman and SNU. The freshman out of Denton, Texas showed out with 6 shutout innings on the mound in his Jets debut. Finke struck out 9 and yielded just two hits.
An
Anthony Ferrante an RBI double followed by a
Jake Angelico sacrifice bunt gave the Jets an early 2-0 lead that boosted Finke. Angelico added a second RBI in later in the game, allowing
Hayden VanDePol to score his second run.
Jenner Steele continued his run driving forces with a double in the top of the 7
th making way for
Connor Langrell.
Langrell shut the door on a 4-0 game by striking out the side in the bottom of the 7
th to secure the Jets' first win of the 2022 campaign.
The Jets and Storm will wrap up their 4 game set Monday with a doubleheader back at Putnam City High. First pitch on the day is set for 10 AM.