ALVA, Okla. – The Northwestern Oklahoma State University offense exploded for nine runs in the first three innings Tuesday afternoon as the Rangers sent away Newman (Kan.) with a 11-5 loss at Glass Family Field at Myers Stadium.
Northwestern (13-11) will make up a game Wednesday afternoon against Oklahoma Panhandle State. The game was originally scheduled to take place last week, but was postponed due to weather.
With the Tuesday afternoon win over the Jets, the Rangers snapped a five-game losing skid against their opponents from Wichita, dating back to the 2015 season. The two teams will match up again in the final midweek contest of 2019 at Newman on April 23.
The Jets got on the board early in the top of the fifth when a failed pickoff attempt moved a run from first third, before eventually scoring on a ground out. However, the Rangers responded in the bottom of the inning as Carlos Andujar, who reached on a single that extended his hitting streak to 11 games, crossed the plate on a Justin Bundy single to center.
Again, the Jets added a run in the top of the second before the Rangers took the lead in the home half of the frame. Brock Randels led the inning off by reaching on an error by the Newman third basemen, then swiped second to move into scoring position. Two batters later, Daschal Johnson singled to left to plate Randels.
Johnson finished the game with two hits, a run batted in and two runs scored, the first of which gave the Rangers a 3-2 lead when he was driven in by Bundy.
After Newman retook a 4-3 lead in the third inning, the Rangers fired back with six in the bottom of the third to make it 9-3. Randels started the scoring with a double down the left field line that scoring Luis Mendoza to tie the game.
With Jake Darrow standing the plate, a wild pitch allowed Colton Whitehouse to come home which moved Randels to third. Darrow made the Jets pay for the mistakes with a single to drive in Randels and extend the lead to 6-4.
An RBI machine all season, Johnnuelle Ponce stepped in with the bases loaded following back-to-back walks and sent a pitch to the base of the wall in straight away center for a three-run double. Ponce is second in the league with 31 RBI's on the season.
Ponce had his second four-hit game of the season, including a second double to lead off the sixth.
With the score sitting at 9-5 after Newman answered with a couple of runs, Randels walked and Darrow singled with one out. Both runners advanced on a double steal to set up an Andujar two-run single to left for the final output.
Andujar moved his average up to .408 after his performance, while Ponce is now hitting .398, a 25-point difference from what his average was entering the game.
Harry Park moved his record to 3-1 on the season as he went 6.2 innings in the start for the Rangers. Kyle Rogers had an effective 1.1 innings of work with just one hit and Koby Spicer shut down the Jets in the ninth with two strikeouts.
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