Alva, Okla.- The Red-and-Black is ready to take the field for another Great American Conference series this weekend. This week Northwestern will play host to the Reddies of Henderson State for a three-game series. Rangers will be coming off of a three-game series loss to Southeastern Oklahoma State during the previous weekend.
Northwestern Oklahoma State is 5-7 on the young season while 4-5 in conference play. The 4-5 start to the conference season has the Rangers in eighth place in the conference.
The Red-and-Black is led by head coach Ryan Bowen, as he will continue his fourth season with the Ranger program with a 63-71 record with Northwestern.
The Rangers have six hitters continuing to hit above the .300 mark for the season. These include Yugo Hamakawa leading with a .413 average for ninth-best in the conference, followed by Preston Lonadier with a .400 average for 10th in the GAC. Daschal Johnson is third on the team with a .375 average on the season, followed by Marques Paige .366, Dylan Norsen .311, and Brett Erickson .310. Paige has a slugging percentage of .805 for firth in the GAC, along with four home runs on the year tied for third in the conference. Johnson is second with two on the season with five doubles tied for fifth in the GAC conference with Hamakawa. The Rangers have two players in Paige and Johnson with double digits RBI so far on the season. Paige has 15 for fifth in the conference, with Johnson having 13 on the year tied for eighth in the Great American Conference.
The pitching staff has two starting pitchers in the top seven in earned run average on the season in Scott Creedon with a 2.25 ERA for fifth in the conference and Austin Thomason with a 2.76 ERA for seventh in the GAC. Kaleb Honea leads the team out of the bullpen with five appearances and a 1.13 ERA after four straight scoreless outings. The three saves on the season for Honea are the best in the conference. Koby Spicer is the other Ranger reliever with a below 3.00 ERA with a 2.84 in four appearances on the season. Ethan Swanson leads the Rangers with 15 strikeouts on the season in 14.1 innings of work. Creedon has the fourth-lowest batting average against in the conference, with Thomason in sixth. Creedon leads the Rangers team with two wins this season followed by Thomason, Spicer, Grant French each with one win.
Henderson State:
The Reddies enter the game 8-5 on the season 5-4 in Great American Conference Play. They will be coming into the game on a two game win streak and 3-2 in their last five, after beating Ouachita Baptist in their mid-week game. THey dropped their previous series against Harding last weekend.
Henderson State is led by head coach Cody Hooten who is in the middle of his 11th season with the program with a 252- 237-1 record with the program.
The Reddies offense is led by four hitters over .300 starting with Daniel Colasanto hitting .385 on the season followed by Alec Lewis .348, Cade Tucker .318, and Joe Myers .310. Myers is second in the Great American Conference with 16 runs scored on the season. The Reddies have four players over double digit RBI at this point in the season. Myers leads the team with 20 for tied for first in the Great American Conference, followed by Grayson Stevens with 16 Colansto and Mitchell with 11. Myers and Stevens are each tied with four home runs on the year.
Henderson State has two starts leading the team with four starts on the year in Spencer Taack and Austin Cross. Cross has a 5.87ERA and Taack has a 5.00 ERA. Brayden Bebee has been their best starter on the season with a 2.70 ERA through three starts on the year. Taack leads the team with fifteen strikeouts on the season as a starter. Blake Patterson and Taack each have two wins on the year to lead the Reddies to this point in the season.
History:
The Rangers are 3-2 in the last five meetings against Henderson and 1-1 in the overall series in the last two. The two teams were not able to meet last season before the season was postponed so the latest meeting is dating back to March 16, 2019. The Rangers' last win over the Reddies was back on March 15 of that season in a 7-3 victory.
