CLAREMORE, Okla. – Rogers State baseball (9-3, 2-0 MIAA) cruised to a 12-2 win over Newman (2-13, 0-2 MIAA) to claim the MIAA opening series on Saturday.
 
The Hillcats wasted no time jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning. AJ Folds led off the game with a double to center and then reached third on a wild pitch. Matthew Delgado drove him in with an infield single to short. Joel Escalante unloaded on a pitch sending it screaming over the straightaway center field fence, bringing home Delgado.
 
They added to their lead with a run in the top of the third to go up 4-0. Escalante plated Folds with a sacrifice fly to left. RSU pushed out to a 5-0 lead in the fourth as Matthew Schure scored Royce Tsumura with a single to right.
 
The Jets got the run back in the bottom half as they cut the lead to 5-1. A solo homer to left put Newman on the board.
 
The Hillcats responded in the top of the fifth as they pushed across two more runs to take a 7-1 advantage. Escalante brought in Delgado from second on a double to left. Ryan Tiger then returned the favor as they plated Escalante with his own double to left.
 
Newman scored the final run in the bottom of the fifth on RBI single to right center to trim the deficit to 7-2.
 
Three more runs came in for RSU in the sixth to push out to a 10-2 lead. Delgado scored both Folds and Geovanni Blackshaw with a double to center field. Escalante traded places with him with a double to right center.
 
The Hillcats added two final runs in the top of the ninth to seal the 12-2 win. Jake Mitchell launched a solo shot to left center for the first run with Tsumura scoring on a Schure double through the right side of the infield.
 
Blake Johnson (1-1) earned his first win of the season with a 6.0 inning start, only allowing two earned runs on seven hits with three strikeouts. Nate Wohlgemuth was also electric out of the bullpen, throwing the final 3.0 innings while scattering three hits with three strikeouts. Colby Wilson (0-3) suffered the loss.
 
RSU will look to take the sweep in the series finale tomorrow. First pitch is set for 12 p.m.