ALVA, Okla.- The Northwestern Oklahoma State Rangers travel to Bethany, Oklahoma, for a three-game series against Great American Conference foe the Crimson Storm of Southern Nazarene. The series is scheduled for one game on Friday, with the first pitch at 3 PM, followed by a doubleheader on Saturday, with the first pitch starting at Noon.
 

The Red-and-Black came into the weekend series with an 11-8 record in the 2021 season, with a 9-6 Great American Conference record. The 9-6 record tied for fourth in the conference. Rangers will bring in a five-game win streak into the weekend along with a seven game win streak over Southern Nazarene. NWOSU is 7-3 in their last 10 games and have won back to back Great American Conference series.
 

Ryan Bowen is 69-72 with the Rangers program, currently in the midst of his fourth season with Northwestern.
 

The Rangers offense has five qualified hitters hitting over the .300 mark. First is Preston Lonadier, who leads the team with a .353 average with six doubles and 11 RBI on the year. Marques Paige is second with a .348 average. Paige leads the team in home runs with six home runs and 20 RBI on the season. The six home runs, tied for second in the GAC, and the 20 RBI, tied for fifth in the conference. The senior has a .712 slugging percentage for sixth in the Great American Conference. Yugo Hamakawa is third on the team with a .342 average on the season, tied for the most hits on the team with 25, along with Daschal Johnson. He is second in home runs, with three on the season. Johnson is fourth with a .329 average on the season, leading Northwestern in triples with two on the year along with two home runs. He is second in RBI with 14 and leads Northwestern with 19 runs scored.  Dylan Norsen is hitting .300 even, with a team-high eight doubles on the year tied for fourth in the conference. Blake Hoffman is hitting .500 on the season, with ten hits in 20 at-bats, with two home runs.
 

The Northwestern pitching staff is led by Scott Creedon, who leads the starting pitching with a 2.06ERA in five starts made. His ERA is fourth in the conference, with his four wins holding tied for second in the league. Creedon is first in opponent batting average as opponents are only hitting .189 off the Rangers starting pitcher. Ethan Swanson leads the Rangers in strikeouts with 24 on the season in his six appearances for 21 innings pitched.  Austin Thomason has the second most inning pitched for the Rangers with 24 on the season in five starts made in six appearances, with a 2-2 record. Koby Spicer is 2-0 with 13 strikeouts in 8.2 innings pitched. Kaleb Honea, Grant French, and Rafferty Brown each have a win on the 2021 season. Honea, alongside his win, has made six saves on the season for the best in the Great American Conference and tied for second among the national rankings. Honea has a 0.60ERA to date on the season for a team-best. The Arizona native has now thrown 14 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run in his last eight appearances. The only earned run that was allowed came back on February 21st in his first appearance of the 2021 season. He has struck out 18 hitters in 15IP with a WHIP of .80.

Southern Nazarene:

The Crimson Storm come into the weekend series with a 3-17 season record alongside a 3-13 Great American Conference record. Southern Nazarene is on a two game win streak following their mid-week game win over Mid-America Christian and the final game of the Harding series.
 

The Southern Nazarene offense is led by Jarrett Phillips, with a .407 average as one of two hitters above the .300 mark. The .407 average is the seventh-best in the conference, with a .508 OBP for fourth. He is joined by Colby Entwistle, with a .333 average on the season. Cole Embrey, EJ Taylor, and Tyler Broyles are close with .295, .292, and a 2.94 average, respectively. Entwistle leads the team in home runs with five on the season, followed by Phillips with four. Southern Nazarene has two hitters with 13 RBI on the year in Entwistle and Austin Glock.
 

The SNU pitching staff, led by Triston Graves and Patrick Hine, have made the most starts on the season with five each. Graves has a 1-4 record with a 10.48ERA in 22.1 innings of work. Hine is 0-5 with a 15.15 ERA on the season in 13.2 innings of work. Payne Maga and Kasen Jackson have the other two wins for the Crimson Storm, with one win each, on the year. Adrian Flores has made the most appearances out of the bullpen with all ten outings in relief.

History:
 

The weekend series will be the 80th meeting between the two baseball programs. The Rangers lead the all-time series 44-35. The Red-and-Black come into this game currently on a seven-game win streak over the Crimson Storm, with their last loss in April of 2018. Overall the Rangers are 8-2 in their latest ten games against the Storm.
 

This win streak does include a three-game series sweep in the shortened  2020 season. Last year's season sweep marked the second consecutive series sweep and the eighth consecutive series win over the Crimson Storm.

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Live Stats: https://snuathletics.com/sidearmstats/baseball/summary