ALVA, Okla.- Northwestern Oklahoma State Baseball returned to action Sunday afternoon with a win over Rogers State. The Red-and-Black forced the Hillcats starter Jackson Simonsgaard out early after 3.1 innings after scoring three early runs to open a 3-1 lead, which they never would lose.
Rangers improve to 1-0 on the season with the win Sunday afternoon. Rogers State drops to 0-1 on the season with the loss.
The Red-and Black pitcher was led by starting pitcher Scott Creedon would throw five innings allowing one earned run on four hits while striking out for his first victory of the season. Ethan Swanson would come in relief with three scoreless innings striking out four while allowing zero runs.
The Rangers offense finished with 11 hits, with three different players completing the afternoon with two. Dylan Norsen started the year off with two hits in the afternoon. Marques Paige had two hits with a run scored and an RBI. The third was Jose Rubalcava, with a two-hit afternoon performance, a run scored, and one RBI. The other RBI came from Preston Lonadier, Garrett Crone, Paige, and Rubalcava.
Christian Merriwether and Jerry Davis led the Hillcats with two hits to combine for four of the seven Rogers State hits. Brandon Bradshaw and Davis had their RBI as Bradshaw hit a solo home run.
Northwestern jumped out to an early 1-0 lead. After Creedon retired the Hillcats in order, Yugo Hamakawa got the Ranger offense started. Following a double from Hamakawa, Paige drove him in with an RBI double of his own for the first Ranger run of the season for a 1-0 lead. Paige would steal third as well but be left there.
Rogers State did not waste any time getting the run back as Brandon Bradshaw hit a home run to the right field to even the score in the top half of the second.
Rangers regained the lead in the third, as Jose Rublacava led the inning off with a single, followed by a Dylan Norsen double. With runners on second and third, the Rangers would take the lead as Rubalcava scored on a wild pitch.
The fourth inning would go the same way after a leadoff walk for Parker Base, Rubalcava, would deliver again, with this time stroking an RBI double to center scoring Base giving the Rangers the 3-1 lead.
Creedon would complete his afternoon in the fifth inning after getting Harvey to line out to leftfield with the Rangers in front 3-1.
The game would remain 3-1 until the bottom half of the seventh inning when the Rangers offense struck again. After back-to-back singles from Dashcal Johnson and Paige, Lonadier came in to pinch-hit. He would drive in the fourth run on a sacrifice bunt scoring Johnson. Crone would then hit in the Rangers' final run with a single to center field scoring Paige.
Swanson would then replace Creedon in the sixth by throwing three scoreless innings. After allowing a couple base runners in the sixth, the Alva native would retire the next six batter faced. Swanson would complete his afternoon in the eighth inning with a 1-2-3 top half of the frame with the Rangers still in front 5-1.
The Hillcats would get one run back in the ninth inning from a Davis RBI double scoring Nelson to make the game 5-2. Kaleb Honea would get the final out of the game with a pop-up to the second baseman to end the game.
The Rangers would hold on for the 5-2 victory over Rogers State Sunday afternoon. The Red-and-Black will conclude the series with a doubleheader Monday afternoon starting at 1 PM with the second game shortly afterward.
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