ALVA, Okla. – Northwestern Oklahoma State baseball ended their seven-game slide with a 3-1 win over Oklahoma Panhandle State in the second game of Tuesday afternoon's doubleheader. After dropping the first game 4-2, the Rangers rebounded by scoring in each of their first three innings. The Ranger bullpen impressed all afternoon as seven relievers combined to throw 7.2 innings of scoreless work.
Game 1
With wind gusts reaching upwards of 60 MPH blowing in from left field, the Rangers welcomed the Aggies for the first of three meetings in 2018. Northwestern went with freshman right-hander
Trevor Stone (1-1, 6.17 ERA) on the hill making his third start of the season.
Stone worked two clean innings before the Aggies managed to scrape one across. No strangers to windy conditions, Oklahoma Panhandle State took a 1-0 lead in the top of the 3
rd with an RBI triple to right. Panhandle would add two more in the 4
th to make it 3-0 thanks to two hits and an error.
Northwestern got on the board in the bottom of the 4
th as
Johnnuelle Ponce led the frame off with a double to left. An error by the Aggie third baseman put runners on the corners with nobody out, allowing
Luis Cintron to drive in the Rangers first run to cut the deficit to two.
Stone was lifted with one out in the 5
th after tossing 4.1 innings allowing three earned runs on four hits and walking one. After struggling as of late, the Ranger bullpen stepped up for head coach
Ryan Bowen with four relievers in
Bryson Wrobel,
Brandon Nesseralla,
Tyler Bernhardt and
Baron Phillips combined to blank the Aggies over the final 2.2 innings.
After
Daschal Johnson led off the 5
th with a base hit through the left side, a walk to
Judah Zickafoose and a single from
Jorin Van Amstel loaded the bases with nobody out. The Aggies went with a new pitcher, but the reliever's first pitch was a wild one that allowed Johnson to race home to make it a 4-2 game. The Rangers would strand the bases loaded in the inning.
Northwestern had another chance to make something happen in the 7
th, but once again OPSU was able to work out of danger to leave the bases juiced, handing the Rangers a 4-2 loss.
Game 2
Nick Llorente toed the rubber in the second game of the doubleheader, going three strong innings allowing just one earned run on three hits. The Rangers bats gave him some early run support as Northwestern managed to score in each of their first three innings.
Zickafoose scored Johnson with a sacrifice fly out to left field in the 1
st before a Ponce double came around to make it a 2-0 game in the 2
nd when
Harrison Hull singled to right field.
Panhandle answered back in the 3
rd off Llorente with a costly lead-off walk that scored on a base hit up the middle to cut the Northwestern lead to 2-1. But the Rangers weren't done there. Zickafoose started a two-out rally with a single up the middle before advancing to second on a passed ball.
Justin Bundy picked up his first RBI of the day as the first baseman hit a 3-2 pitch into the gap to retake a two-run lead.
Once again, the Northwestern bullpen showed signs of their early-season dominance as
Ryan Marcoccia,
Matthew Bickford and
Sean Rydell all threw flawless frames, surrendering just one hit over four innings of work. Rydell sat the Aggies down in order in the 7
th, striking out two en route to his first save of the season.
Up Next
Northwestern will continue their homestand this weekend as they welcome in East Central University for a three-game series at Glass Family Field at Myers Stadium. The Tigers come to Alva with a 1-15 record (0-9 GAC) and are coming off a series in which they gave up a staggering 67 runs over to Southwestern Oklahoma State in three 7-inning contests.
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