Newton baseball drubs STC on Senior Night

Mason Mendez spun a two-hitter and earned his first career varsity pitching win on Monday.

Mendez’s first career shutout was backed by a strong offensive night at the plate by the Newton baseball team and the Cardinals downed South Tama County on Senior Night.

Newton needed just five innings to beat the Trojans, 10-0, in its regular-season finale.

The Cardinals led 4-0 after one inning and then added two runs in the second, fourth and fifth to complete the victory.

Newton, which has won three out of its last four games, out-hit its visitors 9-2.

Eli Stewart and John Frietsch both tripled, had two hits and collected one RBI, Cade Bauer drew two walks and Skyler Milheiser scored three runs.

Stewart scored one run, Frietsch stole one base and Milheiser tallied one hit, one walk and two steals.

Stewart leads the team with 36 total bases and Milheiser has a team-best 21 steals and a team-high on-base percentage of .438.

Mendez finished with one hit, two runs, two RBIs and one steal and he was hit by a pitch, Bauer scored two runs, had two RBIs and stole two bases and Landry Rausch added one hit, one run, one walk and one stolen base. Bauer leads the squad with 18 RBIs.

Kreytein Wickliffe registered one hit and one walk, Braelyn Parks totaled one hit and Derek Wermager scored one run and swiped one base.

Mendez (1-3) allowed no runs on two hits and one walk on the mound. He struck out six, needed 60 pitches to complete the five innings and lowered his earned run average to 2.60.

Stewart, Parks and Rory Rohrdanz and manager Jaxson Hull were recognized before the game for Senior Night.

It was Newton’s fourth straight win over South Tama (2-27), which has lost 15 straight games.