Heartland Conference

            Not even Mother Nature could cool off the red-hot UAFS Diamond Lions.
            UAFS endured an hour-long rain and lightning delay in the opening game of Friday’s Heartland Conference doubleheader against the Newman University Jets on its way to a 5-3 win and completed the sweep with a 10-0 run-rule win in the nightcap at Crowder Field.
            The Diamond Lions (27-19, 19-15) will play for the series sweep at 7 p.m. on Saturday. It will be Senior Night.
            UAFS won its third game in a row and has now won 11 of its past 12 games. The Diamond Lions, who have already clinched a spot in next week’s conference tournament, moved into third place for the moment but will need to beat the Jets in the series finale to secure third place.
            Newman (26-21, 19-16), which has lost seven of its past eight games, slipped into fourth place. With a win in the finale, however, the Jets will finish third by a miniscule 0.013 margin in winning percentage.
            No. 2-ranked St. Mary’s has already won the regular-season title and clinched the No. 1 seed, and St. Edward’s has secured the No. 2 seed. The conference tournament will begin on Thursday at Incarnate Word’s Daniel Sullivan Field in San Antonio, Texas.
            Diamond Lions starter Sam Meloy (8-4) scattered three hits, allowed one unearned run and struck out three in five innings to earn the win in the opening game. Middle reliever Hasten Freeman struggled for the first time this season, allowing two runs – one earned – on one hit with one walk and one strikeout in a brief 2/3 of an inning.
            Closer Kyle Thompson relieved Freeman with two outs in the sixth and took a few warm-up pitches before the game was delayed because of lightning and rain. After the delay, Thompson shut down the Jets over the final 1 1/3 innings, allowing no runs on no hits with one walk and three strikeouts to earn his team-high 10^th save.
            Newman catcher Ruben Marrero was 2 for 3 with one RBI and shortstop Shanan Engroff was 2 for 3 to account for all of the hits for the Jets, who batted just .160 against the trio of UAFS pitchers.
            UAFS tagged two Newman pitchers with seven hits, including one extra-base hit. Third baseman Adam Baker was 2 for 2, shortstop Nick Gumm was 1 for 3 with  a triple, designated hitter Christian Allen was 1 for 3 with two RBI and right fielder Curtis Clark and center fielder Jordan May were each  1 for 4.
            Jets starter Kyle Burkhardt (8-5) suffered the loss in five innings, allowing four runs – two earned – on six hits with two walks and five strikeouts. Reliever James Hilts allowed one unearned run on one hit with one strikeout in one inning.
            UAFS batted .259 against the Newman hurlers but left seven runners stranded.
Diamond Lions left-hander Brandon Taylor (8-4) was dominating in the second game, scattering six hits in his team-leading fourth complete game and second shutout. Taylor walked two and struck out five and faced only four batters more than the minimum thanks to the Diamond Lions turning two double-plays.
            Newman first baseman Corey Cowan was 2 for 3, left fielder Jacob Gaul and Marrero were each 1 for 2 and Engroff and third baseman Tyler Hancock were each 1 for 3. Newman batted .261 against Taylor.
            UAFS peppered two Newman hurlers for 13 hits, including one extra-base hit. Second baseman Ryan Gros was 2 for 2, left fielder Ben Kozma was 2 for 3 with two RBI, May was 2 for 4 with a triple and two RBI and Clark was 2 for 3 with one RBI to extend his team-leading hitting streak to 17 games.
            Gumm was 1 for 2 with one RBI, Baker was 1 for 2 with one RBI and catcher Austin Rawls was 1 for 3 with one RBI.
            Jets starter Brandon Droge (7-6) allowed 10 runs – all earned – on 12 hits with two walks and four strikeouts in just 4 2/3 innings. Reliever Ashton Hoffman allowed no runs on one hit with one strikeout in 1 1/3 innings.
            UAFS batted .464 against the Newman pitching duo.
 
 
GAME ONE
UAFS 5, NEWMAN 3
Newman          100      002      0          --          3          4          4
UAFS                 012      101      X         --          5          7          2
Burkhardt, Hilts (6) and Marrero; Meloy, Freeman (6), Thompson (6) and B. Smith. W – Meloy, 8-4. L – Burkhardt, 8-5. Sv – Thompson (10). HRs – None.
 
GAME TWO
UAFS 10, NEWMAN 0
Newman          000      000      0          --          0          6          1
UAFS                300      250      X         --          10        13        1
Droge, Hoffman (5) and Ollenberger; Taylor and Rawls. W – Taylor, 8-4. L – Droge, 7-6. HRs – None.