ADA, Okla.-
Northwestern continued their three-game series against East Central in Ada, Oklahoma, Sunday morning for a doubleheader. The Rangers would split the Sunday doubleheader, as they lost game one 14-9 following a big, ECU four run first inning. The Rangers would take game two 10-6 following a five-run first inning.
After the split doubleheader, the Rangers are now 4-5 overall on the season, 3-3 in Great American Conference play. The Tigers move to 2-7 on the season along with 2-4 in the GAC.
Game one:
The Red-and-Black finished game one with 15 hits led by Preston Lonadier going 3-3 at the plate with two walks. Dylan Norsen and Yugo Hamakawa each had two-RBI at the top of the Ranger batting order to go with two hits. Thomas Beiswanger finished 2-4 with an RBI and two runs scored. Chase Orrock, Jake White, and Brett Erickson had the other Rangers' RBI.
Blake Hoffman started for Northwestern as he threw four innings allowing, four runs on five hits while walking four and striking out six. Hoffman got charged with the loss in this outing. Dillon Van Oosbree followed Hoffman. He would allow five runs (2ER) on three hits with two strikeouts. Colby Carlson threw 1.2 innings while allowing one run. Emilio Lovato would come in for the final out of the 8th inning.
The Tigers got off to the start they wanted by retiring the Rangers in order 1-2-3 to start the game and then followed that up with a four-run bottom of the first. The top of the order got it started for ECU with back-to-back singles. Rosario would then draw a walk with the bases loaded to force home the first run. East Central would then get back-to-back singles from Reed and Mansell to go up 4-0.
The starting pitchers would settle in after the first. Hoffman would only allow one hit the rest of his outing, and after giving up four runs in the first, he would not allow another run in his final three innings. Chavez would not allow his first run until the fifth inning. In the fifth, Rangers got on the scoreboard from a solo home run from Norsen.
The Tigers, however, would answer in their half of the fifth, taking advantage of a few defensive miscues. The home team would respond with three runs scoring on two errors in the inning. Mansell would double to left to bring in the seventh run as the Rangers trailed 7-1 at the end of five.
The Red-and-Black would not go away, as in the sixth inning would answer with four runs. Paige led things off with a home run to left field. Following the home run, the Rangers hit two singles and then drew a walk before Norsen would reach on a fielder's choice scoring a run. Hamakawa singled to left to score two runs as the Rangers were back within two.
East Central would answer back with two quick runs in the sixth. After a leadoff single for the Tiger offense, Bowie would hit a two-run home run to the left-center putting the home team back up 9-5. The game would remain that way until the home team would rally in the 8th inning.
The Tigers would take advantage of a leadoff walk as Rosario would hit a double to left-center to score Bowie. Rosario would then later score on a throwing error. The bases-loaded were load as back-to-back singles would cap a five-run 8th inning for the Tigers and give them a 14-5 lead heading into the final inning.
Northwestern would not go down quietly as they would strike with four runs in the ninth inning. After Orrock came in to pinch-hit, he delivered with an RBI double, scoring Johnson after he led the inning off with a single. White would then walk to force in the seventh Ranger run. Erickson would hit a sac fly to left field. Norsen would double home the final Rangers run. The Rangers comeback bid would fall short there as they dropped game one 14-9.
Game Two:
The Red and-Black led by Johnson and Lonadier in game two combining for 5-8 with four runs scored and four RBI. Paige finished the second game with 2-RBI. Orrock and Norsen would have the other Ranger RBI. The Rangers would finish with eight of the nine starters having at least one hit and all nine players to reach base safely.
Austin Thomason received the start in game two, throwing 1.2 innings, allowed six runs (2ER) on four hits with five walks while striking out three. Koby Spicer would take over in the second inning and struck out five of the seven hitters he would face, throwing 2.1 scoreless innings. Kaleb Honea would pick up the three-inning save, pitching three scoreless innings striking out five of ten hitters faced.
The Rangers wasted no time in game two to get the scoring started. The Red-and-Black would open with a five-spot in the first inning as the first four Rangers hitters would reach base safely. Johnson got the scoring started by hitting a double to left field to score Hamakawa and Norsen. After a double play that scored Johnson, he would clear the bases, Lonadier hit a solo home run. White would hit the final RBI of the inning with a double to left to score Beiswanger. Thomason would work around a single and a walk in the first to hold the 5-0 lead.
The Red-and-Black second inning continued the hot-hitting as Johnson at Paige would hit back-to-back doubles to extend the lead to 6-0. Lonadier singled to left field to knock in Paige, which brought the Northwestern advantage to 7-0.
The home team would strike in the bottom half of the inning to climb back into the game, following a leadoff single. Lemons and Bowie of East Central would draw walks with the bases loaded for the Tiger's first two runs. Rosario would reach on an error allowing the third run to score. Towsley would then hit a base clearing triple to bring ECU within one at 7-6. Spicer would take over and close out the inning.
Northwestern answered right back in the third as Hamakawa got the two-out rally started with a single. Paige delivered a single to the left side to knock in Hamakawa, followed by Orrock reaching base on an error to extend the lead to 9-6. Spicer would retire the next six Tigers batters he faced striking out five of those six to hold the Rangers lead at 9-6 before being relieved.
Honea would take over in the fifth inning as he struck out the side in the first three batters he faced. He would work around a two-double to strike out the next two batters. The game would stay 9-6 until the final seventh inning when the Rangers added an insurance run. Brett Erickson would reach base safely and would later score on a Norsen single to right-center. The Tigers would go down in order as Honea would finish off the afternoon with a three-inning save earning, his second save in as many tries.
The Rangers will return to action on Friday evening as the Red-and-Black will play host to Southeastern for a three-game weekend series.
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