Bat Cats baseball coach Roger Ward waved his Magic Wand and Great Bend escaped Tuesday's wet weather to play the Newton Rebels. Ward's next magic trick will be cheering his Kentucky Wildcats into their first-ever College World Series berth.

BAT CATS 8, NEWTON 3 – Great Bend scored in six of eight innings to power past the Newton Rebels 8-3 in Tuesday’s Jayhawk Collegiate baseball showdown.

Bat Cats starter Parker Volski (1-0) from Barton Community College worked five solid innings to earn the victory. Hays High’s Tiger Johnson recorded five outs. Reliever Julio Heredia earned his second save with 21/3 innings with multiple strikeouts.

The Bat Cats (3-0) kept adding runs after trailing 2-1 after 11/2 innings. The Kingman Islanders visit Great Bend's Al Burns Memorial Field Thursday.

"Our guys have pitched well and played good baseball," said Ward. "Most people didn't expect us to get two wins against the Kansas Cannons."

Kyler Horsman singled in Jesse Ponce in the first inning. Christian Ammann singled in Cooper Smith and Horsman as the Rebels committed two costly third-inning errors.

Smith singled in Ponce and Jhett Creel scored on a wild pitch for a 5-2 lead after four innings. Creel and Kade Goeke added RBI singles for a 7-2 lead. Great Bend Panther Carson Umphres made a successful debut by scoring a run when he raced home on a strikeout for an 8-3 lead.

Newton’s Alex Connoyer scored the Rebels’ first run on a second-inning Bat Cat error. Tytin Goebel delivered a sacrifice fly in the third inning. Zach Boone tripled and scored the Rebels’ third run.

Newton 011 100 000 – 3 5 3

GB Bat Cats 102 211 01x – 8 12 1

Stover, Harding (4), Fierro (6), Zarechi (7) and Robles. Volski, Johnson (6), Heredria (7) and Creel. W—Volski, 1-0. L—Stover. SV—Heredia (2). 2B—GB—Ammann. 3B—N—Boone.