JOPLIN, Mo. – Northwestern Oklahoma State University baseball is off to its best six-game start since the 2015 season after they split a Saturday doubleheader on the road at Missouri Southern State in Joplin.
The Rangers feel to the Tigers in game one, 10-0, but bounced back with a 3-2 win in game two. Northwestern is now 5-1 on the season. The rubber match between the Rangers and Tigers will take place tomorrow afternoon with a 1 p.m. first pitch.
Northwestern found themselves down 2-0 early on in the night cap before scoring three unanswered runs for the win.
Daschal Johnson got the Rangers on the board in the top of the fourth when he led the inning off with a first pitch double to left center and then advanced to third in the next at bat. After Carlos Andujar drew a four-pitch walk, he took off for second and reached when the ball sailed into center on the attempt to gun down Andujar.
The error allowed Johnson to cross the plate and cut the difference to 2-1.
The Rangers knotted the game at two runs in their next half inning at the plate. For the second straight inning, the Rangers got the leadoff runner on bases when Johnnuelle Ponce drew a walk. Ponce eventually moved over to third and scored on the second wild pitch of the inning to tie the game.
In the top of the sixth, the leadoff man got on base yet again, this time Luis Mendoza welcomed a new MSSU pitcher to the game with a single to right center. Greg Carrington came in to pinch run and moved to third on a Justin Bundy single. Ponce followed Bundy with a double down the left field line to plate Carrington for the go-ahead run.
Bundy's single, combined with three of Northwestern's five hits in game one, gave him a team high four hits on the afternoon. Mendoza finished the doubleheader with a pair of hits, and Johnson had two hits in game two and scored a run.
Kaleb Honea (1-0) entered the second game in to start the sixth inning and didn't allow a hit and struck out two in two innings of work. Dillon Van Oosbree went three innings and allowed two runs and Rafael Lora pitched two perfect innings.
Matt Goertzen (0-1) was credited with the loss in the first game, while Kyle Rogers also saw some action on the mound for the Rangers in the series opener.
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