JOPLIN, Mo. - The seven seed Jets defeated the two seed and 13th ranked team in DII, Missouri Southern 6-4 behind starter
Asher Finke. The Jets took an 3-0 lead in the first inning and stayed on top the entire game to secure their first ever MIAA tournament victory and the first ever MIAA tournament victory in Newman Athletics history.
The win keeps the Jets alive in the MIAA tournament and brings a decisive game three tomorrow with both teams at 1-1. It was the first win over Southern this season for Newman.
The scoring started early for the men in powder blue.
Shawn Marquis led the game off with a single and
Jake Angelico walked on six pitches to put runners on first and second base.
Jason Schneider singled with one out to begin the scoring and Angelico would score a few pitches later on a wild pitch. Up 2-0 early, red-shirt freshman
Jack Kiser singled to left field to score Schneider. It was Kiser's third hit in two games.
Southern would plate one in the second inning, but NU responded in the third with a sacrifice fly from Schneider to bring the lead back to three. The sacrifice fly proved to be a big run because MSSU found their groove in the bottom half of the inning, scoring two to make it a 4-3 game.
Starter
Asher Finke battled the Lions and the heat. The senior went six strong innings, striking out four and giving up just two earned runs to eventually earn his fifth win of the season.
Jake Angelico made it a 5-3 game after scoring again on another wild pitch. Neither team could get a runner across the plate again until the seventh when Missouri Southern hit a ground ball that led to a Newman throwing error, giving the Lion runner on second base the opportunity to score. Pitcher
Ian Lecki would escape any further damage, striking out the final batter on three pitches.
Andrew Prieve came in relief for the right and ninth innings. He came up big after allowing three straight runners to reach base, striking out back to back batters swinging on 1-2 pitches.
The free bases didn't come back to haunt the Jets, but it would come back to bite Missouri Southern.
Eli Wohl was hit by a pitch to lead off the ninth inning and would advance to second after a
Shawn Marquis sacrifice bunt. A few batters later
Jason Schneider singled up the middle to bring in Wohl and give Newman the much needed insurance run and extend the lead to 6-4. He'd lead the Jets with 3 RBI's on the day.
Down to their last three outs, the No. 13 Lions were able to put their lead off runner on. That had no effect on Prieve, who'd earn his third save of the season. He struck out back to back batters and got the final batter to fly out to
Jake Angelico in right field.
Schneider and Kiser both finished the game with two hits.
Jenner Steele, Marquis, Angelico, and
Zack Stewart all had hits in the win.
The win over No. 13 MSSU is the highest ranked win in the Newman-MIAA era.
Game three will be on Sunday, May 7th at 1 PM from Warren Turner Field with the winner advancing to Warrensburg, Mo. for the semifinal and championship round of the 2023 MIAA Baseball Tournament.
