ALVA, Okla. – Northwestern Oklahoma State University baseball improved a home field winning streak to nine straight Tuesday afternoon as the Rangers made easy work of Northeastern State, 11-2, at Glass Family Field at Myers Stadium.
It was the biggest margin of victory against Northeastern since a 17-5 over the then Redmen in 1991 when both teams were National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics members playing in the Oklahoma Intercollegiate Conference.
Northwestern has won all five contests at home this season to add to four straight at Myers Stadium as the 2018 campaign came to a close. The win improved the Rangers record to 7-1 on the year, the best start as a Div. II program, last achieving the seven wins in eight games in 2010.
The Rangers have won four straight against Mid-American Intercollegiate Athletic Association opponents this year. Prior to 2019, Northwestern had never won more than two games against MIAA members.
The Great American Conference season will get started Friday afternoon when the Rangers travel to take on Southern Nazarene in a three-game set. First pitch of the series will be at 1 p.m., followed by a doubleheader on Saturday in Bethany.
Harry Park made another excellent showing on the bump for the Rangers as he was called upon for the start the midweek contest. Park allowed a run on three hits with five straights to earn his second win of the season.
Baron Phillips, Danny Vasquez, Bryce Donovan and Beau Britton each pitched an inning as the game wound down. In total, Ranger pitches struck out 11 Riverhawk batters after fanning 13 on Sunday against Missouri Southern.
While the Rangers only had three extra-base hits, the offense still sprayed 14 total hits around the field to compliment seven free passes and a hit batter from NSU. NWOSU entered the game with a.329 team batting average to lead the Great American Conference, improving its total by nine points after Tuesday's victory.
A carry over from the weekend series at MSSU, Luis Mendoza continued to be hot at the plate with a 3-for-3 day. The senior has hit .600 (9-for-15) in the last four games.
Mendoza accounted for six of the Rangers' runs with two runs batted in and scored a Northwestern season high four runs. Colton Whitehouse drove in three runs thanks to a double and two sac flies.
Northwestern scored a run in six of their eight half innings. The biggest scoring output of the day came in the fourth inning when they plated four runs, started by a Daschal Johnson RBI double to drive in Jake White who led the inning off with a single.
A couple of batters later, Mendoza ripped a pitch through the right side of the infield to push across Johnson and Johnnuelle Ponce followed with one if his two hits in the double to plate Luis Cintron. Whitehouse added the fourth run of the inning with a deep fly to center to bring home Mendoza.
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