BETHANY, Okla. — After slipping up in Game 1 to Newman for their season opener, Southern Nazarene split their Saturday doubleheader, taking the first game 7-4 but falling behind in the second game 23-12.
After exploding for six runs in the sixth inning, The Storm (1-1, 0-0 GAC) defeated Newman 7-4, making it a good start to the Saturday doubleheader. Things quickly went awry in Game 2 as 20 total hits allowed Newman to a final victory of 23-12.
Game 1
Newman broke out the scoring first with a single up the middle that gave them the early 1-0 start to Game 1. After two straight innings of zero runs between either team, the Jets tacked on another in the fourth off of another single, improving their lead to 2-0. The Storm put a stop to their scoring that inning after a perfectly executed double play sent the Jets their third out.
Southern Nazarene gained some momentum in the bottom fourth, courtesy of a DJ Van Atten double that sent Dax Edmonds home for the 2-1 trail.
Newman extended their lead in the sixth after a two RBI homer, putting them up 4-1.
Van Atten answered in the bottom fifth with a shot to left field that sent Dax Edmonds and Cole Embrey home for the 4-3 score. In the next at-bat, Tanner Bare reached on a fielder's choice which advanced Colby Entwistle across home, leading SNU to the 4-4 tie. The hot offense continued for SNU with Oliver Wilson's single to right center that plated Van Atten and the Storm quickly claimed the 5-4 lead.
SNU's lead extended after Carson Kinnaird got a hit to drop in right center which allowed Bare the trip home and SNU was ahead 6-4 over Newman. Tyler Broyles added to the fire with a bunt RBI, putting Wilson at home and SNU ahead by three.
Leading by three with just one final inning left, SNU held up on the defensive end, serving the Jets three quick outs with a game-ending double play to take the 7-4 victory.
Van Atten went 2-3 with three RBIs while Oliver Wilson also finished 2-3 with an RBI.
Casey Minchey earned the win making this his first of the season. The junior pitched through six innings, picked up four strikeouts, and collected three earned runs.
Game 2
The Jets caught some fire to open Game 3, starting with a three RBI homer to put them up 3-0 over SNU. Newman tacked on another run off of a sacrifice fly, taking their lead to 4-0.
It was SNU's turn to put up some runs, starting with Edmonds' solo shot straight over the fence, giving the Storm their first run of Game 3. Colby Entwistle made it back-to-back homers with his solo shot far beyond the field and SNU quickly secured the 4-2 trail. The Jets made it a 7-2 game after a walk and a single totaled for three RBIs.
Newman's lead was cut down to two after a Cole Embrey shot to left center tallied two RBIs for SNU. Edmonds continued the heat with a single to enter field, allowing Cole Embrey to cross home for the 7-5 trail.
In the top of the third, three Newman singles added on four more runs to grow their lead to 11-5. SNU couldn't catch a break as Newman continued to pile on the runs, brought on by a wild pitch and a 2 RBI single, pushing the Jets to lead 14-5 in the third.
Carson Kinnaird stepped up to the plate to stop some of the bleeding with a solo homerun straight to left field to put SNU behind 14-6.
SNU reached a quick three outs to finish the third and Newman tallied another run to begin the fourth inning, brought on by a solo homer to right field. That was the last of the scoring that inning as SNU could not answer at the plate and Newman held up a 15-6 lead moving into the fifth.
Newman proved to have the hot hand in Game three, piling on four more runs to get ahead 19-6. Quickly turning the momentum around to the Storm, Jonathan Crist came into to pinch hit and sent a shot to center field, racing all the way to third base to end up scoring a run off a wild pitch. Another wild pitch by Newman tacked another for the Storm and they got within 11 at 19-8.
The Jets soared for a 6th inning explosion, scoring four more runs to make it harder for the Storm to find any sort of comeback and the scoreboard quickly ran up to 23-8.
Although Newman's lead was just to great to come back from, SNU capped off the seventh inning with a solo homer by O'shea Whiteside and a three-run bomb to tack on four more runs on SNU's side of the scoreboard.
But, the run-rule applied after SNU reached its third and final out and Newman won it in seven with a final score of 23-12.
SNU will have a single game against Central Oklahoma Tuesday February 7th at 3:00 p.m. to conclude its stretch of non-conference matchups.
