ALVA, Okla. – Northwestern Oklahoma State and Southern Arkansas squared off for the closing doubleheader where the Muleriders would come away with two wins against the Rangers, 7-4 and 4-1.
Pat Delano had a fantastic day for the Rangers as he was 3-for-7 at the plate, leading the team.
Casey Dickerman (.400),
Colton Krokroskia (.333),
Arturo Castro (.286),
Jacob Long (.286) and
Greg Carrington (.222) were the other five players to collect at least two hits on the day.
Game 1
Starting on the mound for the Rangers was
Bryce Tomlin who went 5.2 innings, giving up six runs on six hits. He would ultimately take the loss in the contest.
As an offensive unit, Northwestern gained more bases on hits than the Muleriders as the hosts collected 11 hits. Long, Delano, Krokroskia and Dickerman all had two hits in the game.
Leading off the top of the first, the visitors put their leadoff man aboard following a leadoff walk issued by Tomlin, but the one run would be all they could muster, leaving the game at 1-0.
Northwestern shut down the Muleriders for the next two innings and then tie it up at one apiece in the bottom of three on a groundout to second base, plating Dickerman on the play.
In the Muleriders very next at bat however, they would score two more runs on a rifled homer to right field, making it 3-1.
Not willing to go away quietly, Northwestern scratched out two more runs of their own to tie it back up in the bottom of the fourth on a single down the left field line by Delano.
SAU came up in the top half of the sixth and made the Rangers pay on a single and an error, tacking on three runs to make it a 6-3 contest, knocking out Tomlin in the process.
Brandon Nesseralla came on to relieve Tomlin for the final out of the inning and was successful in doing so, maintaining the three-run game.
The Rangers put two men aboard in the bottom of the sixth, but the runners were left stranded following a strikeout.
A Richardson single to left field would score another run for the visitors of Magnolia, Ark., making it a 7-3 lead.
Northwestern gained one run back in the seventh on a SAC fly to left field by Van Amstel, bringing Carrington across the plate to make it a three-run game again at 7-4.
Coming in for the Rangers in the top of the eighth inning was freshman
Tyler Havener and collected three quick outs, shutting out the visitors in the inning.
The Rangers also had an empty frame in the eighth, and Ranger skipper,
Sam Carel brought in
Baron Phillips for the top of nine, but following two hit batters,
Blake Jones would make his game debut.
The Black-and-Red would fall in the game as no runs were crossed in the final inning, falling 7-4.
Game 2
Matthew Bickford was the game three starter for the Rangers and pitched three and two-thirds innings before being replaced by
Nick Llorente in the fourth.
The Black-and-Red struggled at the dish in game two, only collecting four hits in the contest.
The Muleriders continued to score early in the games as they posted one run to start things off after a big double to left field.
In the bottom half of the first Northwestern would plate a run of their own on a single to left field by Castro, bringing around Carrington for the score.
The score would remain at one apiece until the top of the fourth when the guests put a three spot on the Rangers, making it a 4-1 contest.
Following a score in inning one, the Rangers were held in check for six straight after that, finishing the game on the losing end 4-1.
UP NEXT
Northwestern will host non-conference opponent, Newman, Tuesday evening at 5 p.m. for a single game before Oklahoma Baptist comes to town for the next conference series, beginning Friday.
