TAHLEQUAH – Northeastern State beat the weather and grounded the Newman Jets (21-27, 13-18 MIAA) Friday night 7-6, scoring five unanswered runs in the final innings.
Mother Nature pushed Friday's start time up an hour, but a pop-up shower was heavy enough to cause a 30-minute delay.
The pause assisted Newman out of the gates and hit a three-run homer in the opening frame; they added a fourth run on a bases-loaded walk.
DeClaudio Irvin plated a run for NSU in the second on a double to center field, and
C.D. White hit his seventh homer of the season in the fourth to cut the Newman lead in half.
After two scoreless innings, the Jets got two insurance runs in the seventh before the NSU bats got going.
Isaiah Keller hit a single up the middle to score two runs, and
Coby Tweten drew a full-count walk with the bases loaded to make it a 6-5 ballgame.
Brady Evans opened the eighth with a single through the left side and later stole second base for Keller, who had his third RBI to tie the game with two outs. Keller swiped his 19th bag to get into scoring position, and Newman failed to end the inning on a ground ball to second—the throw to first ended up out of play, scoring the eventual winning run.
Evans had three hits and scored two runs; Keller and White both had two base knocks.
Lee Callison went six innings and struck out eight batters in his final home start,
Javier Sanchez (3-1) earned the win in relief, and
Cole White picked up his third save on the year.
The win moves NSU to 20-24 (14-17 MIAA) and clinched them a postseason berth into the upcoming Association tournament next week.
Northeastern State continues its series with the Jets at 2 p.m. Saturday at Thomas C. Rousey Field.
