AUGUSTA, Ga. - The Newberry College baseball team fell behind early and was unable to come back, as Augusta State University earned an 8-2 victory at Jaguar Field on Wednesday.

Newberry falls to 20-29 heading into Saturday's final home doubleheader against Belmont Abbey. Augusta State is now 28-25.

The Jaguars' first four batters reached base, with Bryson Smith's two-run triple, Shannon Wilkerson's RBI double and a sacrifice fly from David Barnes gave ASU an early 4-0 lead.

Newberry's John Kirkland (Orlando, Fla.) ran his hitting streak to 16 consecutive games with an RBI double in the top of the fourth to cut the lead to 4-1.

The Indians narrowed the deficit to 4-2 when Derek Bley (Upper Arlington, Ohio) scored on a wild pitch.

But Augusta State pushed the lead back to four runs on a two-run homerun from Wilkerson. The right fielder's 15th shot of the season put the Jaguars up 6-2.

Wilkerson capped the scoring with RBIs in the bottom of the seventh and eighth, finishing the game 3-for-4 with two runs and five RBIs. Kirkland and Jovan Rohena (Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico) were each 2-for-4 for the Indians.

Chris Roman (Kissimmee, Fla.; LP; 2-1) was tagged with the loss after giving up the initial four runs in the first. Brandon Iverson (WP; 6-5) picked up the win for ASU, allowing one earned run on four hits in four innings.