GOODWELL, Okla. – Northwestern Oklahoma State University baseball earned win No. 20 of the season in a big way Tuesday after with a 19-8 victory over the Oklahoma Panhandle State Aggies in Goodwell. It was the most runs scored by the Rangers this season
The win, which snapped a small four-game losing streak, moved the Northwestern record to 20-18 on the season. Up next for the Rangers is a conference showdown with East Central on the road, with game one of the three-game set beginning at 2 p.m.
While the Aggies jumped out to a 6-0 lead after the first inning, the Northwestern hitters remained patient at the plate. The Rangers forced the OPSU pitchers into allowing 16 total walks in the game, the most by a Ranger team in the NCAA era.
Northwestern hitters also rattled around 17 hits in the ball, tying the second highest hit total of the season. Each Ranger batter in the starting lineup recorded a hit in the game, including a 3-for-5 performance by Tanner Rutledge and Jake White was 3-for-4 in the game. The combo crossed the plate a combined five times.
White was the first run of the game for the Rangers in the top of the third inning when he singled and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly to right by Luis Cintron.
The Rangers made it a one run difference after the top of the fourth inning as they scored four runs, all with two outs. Cintron delivered for the Rangers yet again, this time with a two-run single to plate Marques Paige and Justin Gordon who had each previously drawn walks to get on base.
Cintron finished the game with five runs batted in.
Another product of an Aggie walk, Greg Carrington, then crossed the plate on a passed ball and Cintron scored two batters later when Justin Bundy sent a ball down the right field line to make it 6-5.
Two more Ranger runs went on the board in the fifth inning when Gordon singled to short. A throwing error on the play allowed two runs to score to put the Rangers on top for the first time at 7-6, before the Aggies tied the game in the bottom of the inning.
The tie ballgame didn't last long. Bundy started the inning by drawing a walk and swiping second, before moving 90-feet away from home plate on a groundout. Bundy was then sent home by the umpire as the OPSU pitcher was called for a balk.
Following a Rutledge double, back-to-back walks drawn by Jake Darrow and Gordon loaded the bases. Carrington made the Aggie pitcher pay for the free passes with a triple to wall in center to clear the bases and extend the Ranger lead to 11-7.
Carrington had a career day as the season went 2-for-4 with a career high four RBI and three runs scored. He also drew a three walks.
Just after Jake White plated two runs with a double down the left field line in the top of the seventh, Carrington drove in his fourth run of the afternoon two batters later. He wasn't on base long as Cintron stepped to the plate and sent his second home run of the season over the fence.
Bundy put the icing on the cake in the ninth inning for the Rangers as he turned a Carrington walk and Johnnuelle Ponce single into a three-run home homerun, his tenth of the season.
Kyle Rogers picked up the win in relief with five strikeouts in 4.2 innings on the mound.
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