Alva, Okla- The Northwestern Oklahoma State Rangers are set to take on Ouachita Baptist this weekend for a three-game series in Arkadelphia, Arkansas to continue conference play. Ranger will be coming off of two games to three-game series win over Henderson State the previous weekend. 
 

The Red-and-Black are 7-8 on the season, with a 6-6 Great American Conference record. The 6-6 record has the Rangers tied for seventh in the conference so far this season.
 

The Rangers are led by head coach Ryan Bowen as he continues his fourth season with the baseball team. He holds a 65-72 record so far in his Northwestern career. 
 

The Northwestern offense is led by Preston Lonadier in average hitting .385 as one of five Ranger hitters above the .300 mark. His batting average is tied for ninth in the Great American Conference. Yugo Hamakawa is behind Lonadier with a .368 average to date this season. Senior Daschal Johnson is third on the team with a .350 mark followed by Dylan Norsen .327 and Marques Paige at .320. Paige continues to lead Northwestern in home runs with his four on the season which is tied for 10th in the Great American Conference. He is followed by Johnson and Hamakwas each with two on the season than six players each have one. The Rangers have three players who have reached the double-digit RBI count to the season in Paige who leads the team with 16 followed by Johnson at 13 and Hamakawa with 11. On top of Norsen's .327 average, he has walked 14 times to lead the Rangers in OBP at .486. The Colorado native will enter the weekend series on a 10-game hitting streak and has reached safely in every game so far this season for a 15 game base streak. Norsen has seven doubles on the year for a team-high and 2nd in the Great American Conference. 
 

The Red-and-Black pitching staff is led by Scott Creedon who leads the team with 26IP through four starts on the year. He is 3-1 with a 2.08ERA for the best out of the Rangers' starting pitchers. His ERA is fifth in the conference. His 17 strikeouts are tied for 10th in the conference. Ethan Swanson has 20 strikeouts on the season through his four starts made this season and 17 innings pitched. His strikeouts are fourth in the Great American Conference. Austin Thomason leads the Rangers in pitching starts made with five on the season. He has struck out 15 opposing hitters through those five starts. Kaleb Honea has led the Rangers relief pitching to date this season with a team-high three saves on the season for first in the Great American Conference. He has a team-best 0.90 ERA in six appearances out of the bullpen with 12 strikeouts through 10IP. Honea has made five straight scoreless appearances for nine straight scoreless innings. Grant French has the other Ranger save made with one on the season with 10IP and 15 strikeouts. Koby Spicer has posted a 3.38ERA in five relief appearances made, has struck out 13 hitters in 8IP. 
 

Ouachita Baptist:

The Tigers will be coming into the weekend series 5-12 on the season and 3-9 in Great American Conference play so far this season. Ouachita has dropped their last two series including Southwestern sweeping them this previous weekend. They enter the weekend 1-4 in their last five with the win coming in a midweek game against Texas A&M- Texarkana 11-0. 

The Tigers are led by Luke Howard who took over as head coach in 2019. He has a 34-52 record through his first few seasons including this current 2021 year. 
 

Their offense is led by Cole Kelly, with a .302 batting average as the only Tiger hitter above the .300 mark on the season. He also currently leads the team in RBI with 13 on the year and is joined by Cade McBride as the only other in double figures with 11 to date this season. Ouachita has four players tied with two home runs on the season in Cole Kelly, Tyler Riebock Cade McBride, and Pierce Mitchum.
 

The Tiger pitching staff is led by Luke Scaggs with a 3.99 ERA through five starts made including two complete games. He has a 1-4 record through those six total appearances made. Cooper Timmons, Caleb Donoho, and Beau Burson each have a win on the season. Hunter Gautreaux leads the pitching staff with 22 strikeouts on the season in his six appearances made and 21IP. Timmons has the Tigers' lone save on the year has made eight appearances on the season all out of the bullpen. 
 

History:

The Rangers and Tigers did not get to face one another the year last season before the cancelation of the season due to the pandemic. 
 

The Red-and-Black will look to carry their recent success against Ouachita into this season. The Rangers have taken six straight off the Tigers for two straight series sweep. Overall the Rangers are 8-2 in their last 10 games against the Tigers. 

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