The Newton Junior Knights wilted in the hot summer sun Friday afternoon, dropping a pair of games to the Wichita Sox at Cameron Field on the Wichita Collegiate campus.
Newton lost the first game 10-0 in four innings on the 10-run rule and the second game 11-3 in six innings on the eight-run rule.
“In the second game, we played a little bit better,” Newton manager Alex Koerner said. “We loaded the bases twice, but only came away with one run. We weren’t bad defensively. We had a few bad-timed errors. Pitching, we didn’t get first-pitch strikes and had too many walks.”
In the first game, the Sox punched out 11 hits, scoring in every inning. The Sox used a five-run third inning to end the game.
Jason Palmer took the loss for the Junior Knights. A leadoff bunt single by Ben Koerner in the top of the fourth broke up the no-hitter.
The Sox opened the second game with three runs in the bottom of the first. Newton finally got on the board in the top of the second with an RBI single for Austin Jones and a run on a delayed double steal.
Newton missed a chance to tie the game in the top of the third, ending the inning on a pickoff at second base. The Sox used five hits and a walk to score five runs in the bottom of the third. Wichita scored two runs in the bottom of the fourth. An error led to a Newton run in the top of the fifth. Wichita scored a run in the bottom of the fifth and another run in the sixth to end the game.
Dakota Stein took the loss for Newton. Ryan Blosser pitched 3 1-3 innings. Shelby Grosch went two for two hitting. Jones and Koerner both went two for three.
Newton plays at 5 p.m. Sunday at McPherson.
First game
Newton 000 0 —0 1 2
Wichita 235 x —10 11 0
Palmer (L) and Kingsley; Smith (W) and Ollenberger.
Second game
Newton 020 01 —3 7 4
Wichita 305 21 —11 14 2
Stein (L), Blosser 3 and Koerner; Merrill (W) and Ollenberger.
