Baseball February 27, 2016

Rangers Dominate at the Plate, Win Series Over East Central

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

Leading Off
Score: (ECU 15 - NW 14 ), (ECU 6, NW 8)
Records: ECU (2-13, 2-4 GAC) - NW (6-8, 4-2 GAC)
Location: Glass Family Field at Myers Stadium - Alva, Okla.

ALVA, Okla. - After a big weekend at the plate, the Northwestern Oklahoma State Baseball team took home their second Great American Conference series win, defeating East Central 2-1 overall.

At the Plate

As a team, Northwestern raked at the dish, hitting .384 as a unit, while six Ranger hitters hit .500 or better in the two games.
Xyruse Martinez led the Rangers in average on the day, going 4-for-6 for a .667 batting average over the two games. He also scored two runs along the way, adding a homerun to the mix along with four RBIs.
Centerfielder, Thomas Bess went 3-for-5 against the Tiger pitching staff, while also scoring two runs.
Jacob Long had a day on his birthday, going 5-for-10 at the plate with two doubles, a HR, five runs scored and three RBIs.
Coming in as a pinch hitter in game one, Jeremy Smith made his presence known to the Tiger pitchers, hitting a three-run bomb to make it a four-run ballgame. His next at bat in the first game was a double down the left field line, which put the potential tying run on base.
Tito Montano Jr. and Greg Marco also both hit .500 in their outings, each hitting 1-for-2.
Freshman Catcher, Cole Anderson was the other Ranger batter to hit over .400 for the two games, going 2-for-5 with two homeruns.
Contributing to the big hitting day were three other Rangers who hit .300 or better with Matt Benn going .375, Alexis Torres (.333) and Greg Carrington (.300).

The K Zone

Dakota Stanek got the nod in the first game of the twin bill and went four and one-thirds innings, surrendering six hits and four runs, while striking out four.
The rest of the game was pieced together by a host of relievers, with Zach Postoak, Jason Barlett, Matt Bickford, Thomas Sander, Trevor Rakers and Stetson Buller Jr. all making appearances. Collectively, walks were an issue for the Black-and-Red hurlers as they issued seven free passes on balls and another four from hit batsmen.
The wind was a big factor for each side in the contests as a total of six homeruns were given up between the two teams.
Robert Lawhon was the game two starter and went five innings, giving up four hits while striking out eight in the process.
Walks were again a big issue for the Rangers as nine were issued collectively.

Game Changer

Through the first five innings, it was a tightly contested ballgame as ECU held a slim 4-3 lead over the home squad, but the sixth inning was where it all changed as the Tigers put a six-spot on the Rangers with four of the six runs were from walks or hit batters.
East Central started up the scoring again in the seventh inning, putting three more on the board. The bottom of the inning was a huge game changer as Northwestern got hot from the plate as it started off with Montano singling in Jacob Long for a score. After the single by Montano, Martinez came up big with a two-run homer to cut the lead to seven, but the inning wasn't over yet. Torres and Anderson were both able to get on base, with Torres hitting a double and Anderson being issued a walk, after which Smith crushed one over the centerfield fence for three runs.
Two more runs crossed in the eighth for the home team, making it a three-run ballgame. The final inning was an exciting one as Benn was able to get a leadoff walk, after which Anderson hit a big homerun to make it a one-run game. Smith kept the hot bats going, hitting a double with still zero outs recorded by the Tigers. After the big hit however, three consecutive outs ensued ending the game.
Game two was also an exciting one as the Rangers jumped on the visiting Tigers early and kept the pedal down, going up 8-1 at one point.
The last inning was a tough one for the Ranger pitching staff however as five runs were given up, four of which were given up from walks, but Brody Ausfahl was able to get the final batter to fly out to right for the end.

On Deck

Northwestern will host former Sooner Athletic Conference rival Oklahoma Christian, Tuesday afternoon where the two teams will play a double-header beginning at 3 p.m.

For the latest information and updates on Ranger Baseball, follow @NWOSUAthletics on Twitter or go to www.riderangersride.com.

Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

#31 Brody Ausfahl: LHP; 5' 10"; Senior

#21 Matt Benn: INF/OF; 6' 2"; Senior

#29 Matthew Bickford: RHP; 5' 9"; Sophomore

#13 Stetson Buller Jr.: RHP/OF; 5' 11"; Sophomore

#7 Greg Marco: C; 5' 10"; Senior

#8 Xyruse Martinez: INF/RHP; 5' 11"; Junior

#14 Tito Montano Jr.: INF; 6' 1"; Sophomore

#24 Zach Postoak: RHP; 6' 2"; Senior

#19 Thomas Sander: RHP; 6' 3"; Junior

#12 Jeremy Smith: UTL; 5' 8"; Senior

#25 Jason Barlett: RHP; 6' 0"; Senior

#23 Alexis Torres: OF; 6' 2"; Senior

Players Mentioned

#31 Brody Ausfahl
: 5' 10"; Senior
: LHP

#21 Matt Benn
: 6' 2"; Senior
: INF/OF

#29 Matthew Bickford
: 5' 9"; Sophomore
: RHP

#13 Stetson Buller Jr.
: 5' 11"; Sophomore
: RHP/OF

#7 Greg Marco
: 5' 10"; Senior
: C

#8 Xyruse Martinez
: 5' 11"; Junior
: INF/RHP

#14 Tito Montano Jr.
: 6' 1"; Sophomore
: INF

#24 Zach Postoak
: 6' 2"; Senior
: RHP

#19 Thomas Sander
: 6' 3"; Junior
: RHP

#12 Jeremy Smith
: 5' 8"; Senior
: UTL

#25 Jason Barlett
: 6' 0"; Senior
: RHP

#23 Alexis Torres
: 6' 2"; Senior
: OF