ALVA, Okla.- Northwestern Oklahoma State Baseball is set to go up against rival Southwestern Oklahoma State University, opening a six-game homestand for a three-game series. The series opener will be on Friday, April 30th starting at 6:00 PM, with a doubleheader Saturday beginning at 1:00 PM with the final game of the series following shortly after the last out of game one of the doubleheader.
The Rangers enter the series 22-12 with a 17-10 Great American Conference record. After a series win over Arkansas Tech, Northwestern stands in fourth place in the Great American Conference.
The Red-and-Black are coached by Ryan Bowen in the midst of his fourth season with Northwestern baseball program with an 80-76 record.
Northwestern's offense has is led by six different players hitting over the .300 mark on the season. Blake Hoffman leads the team with a .389 average with an OPS of 1.180. Hoffman has had 12 of his 28 hits extra-base hits for the Rangers, six home runs, and six doubles on the season. Grant French is second on the team with a .385 average with five home runs with 13RBI on the season. Daschal Johnson has a .356 batting average, leading the teams in hits on the season with 48. Johnson is second on the team in home runs with eight on the year and RBI with 33. Marques Paige is next for the Rangers, hitting .333 on the season with a team-high 14 home runs for the best in the Great American Conference. Paige also leads the team in RBI with 38, which is fourth in the conference. Preston Lonadier is next for the Rangers, hitting .330 with a team-high 11 doubles on the season. Yugo Hamakawa is the sixth and final Rangers over that .300 mark with an average of .312. Johnson also leads the team in runs scored with 35. Northwestern is fifth in the GAC in team batting average with a .302 team outlook.
The Red-and-Black pitching staff has been led by Scott Creedon, who has made nine starts on the season with a 3.06 ERA, second in the conference. Creedon is 6-3 on the season, with the six wins being the second most in the GAC. Ethan Swanson has elevated his game as of late with 11 consecutive scoreless innings thrown by the Rangers starter. He is 3-2 with a 5.22ERA on the season in nine starts made. Swanson leads the team in strikeouts with 39 on the year. Austin Thomason and Dillion Van Oosbree have made the next most starts on the season with five each. Thomason holds a 4.78 ERA on the season, with his last five appearances coming out of the bullpen. Kaleb Honea has been the Ranger closer so far this season with a league-high ten saves on the season, leading the nation in saves. He holds a 1.98 ERA on the season. The pitching staff is third in the GAC in best team ERA with a 4.91ERA on the season only behind Arkansas Tech and Southern Arkansas.
Southwestern:
Southwestern comes into the weekend with a 20-12 record with a 16-11 GAC record for fifth in the conference right behind Northwestern. The Bulldogs are coming off a series loss to Harding win the last game of that series. The Bulldogs have won five of their last seven games entering this series.
The Bulldogs are led by head coach Zack Saunders, who is finishing his 10th season with the Southwestern program, holding a 233-195 record with the rival.
The Bulldogs are led offensively by Drew White as one of five players hitting over that .300 mark on the season. He is hitting .419, which leads in the Great American Conference. Alex Bedard follows him at .393 with 30RBI on the season. Zach Baxley is hitting .367 on the year, followed by Zach Baxley at .367, Miguel Soto at .322, and Ryan Dos Santos at .321. Drew White leads the team in RBI with 39 on the season. The Bulldog home run leader is Keyshaun Smith, with eight on the season along with 18 RBI. Bedard leads the Bulldogs in runs scored with 45 on the season, which is also first in the league. The Bulldog offense is second in the GAC in best batting average with a .322 average only behind last week's opponent Arkansas Tech.
The Southwestern Oklahoma State pitching staff, led by Nate Postlehwait, has made the most starts for the Bulldogs on the season at nine. He holds a 5.54 ERA on the season. He is followed by Vance Ferraro with seven starts on the season with a 6.03 ERA. Matt Hopkins is third with a 6.92ERA in six starts made eight overall appearances. Haden Branch leads the team in saves with three on the season, making ten appearances holding a 2.11ERA. Postlehwait leads the team with 57 saves on the season. Southwestern's pitching staff is sixth with a 5.42ERA on the season.
History:
The Rangers will enter this series looking for their first against the Bulldogs since 2018 trying to end their three-game losing streak in the series after these two teams would not play one another last year. Southwestern leads the overall series history 21-4, with the Rangers 2-3 in their previous five after earlier winning a series in 2018. The Rangers will look to flip the narrative on the series this upcoming weekend.
Schedule:
Friday- First Pitch 6:00PM
Saturday- First Game 1:00PM
Saturday- Second Game 30 minutes following final out of game 1
Links:
Watch: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoKcZJvC933E6fN0l9er_kA
Stats:https://riderangersride.com/sidearmstats/baseball/summary
Listen:https://www.alvaradio.com/krdr
For the latest news and updates on NWOSU Baseball, follow @NWOSUAthletics on TWITTER or visit www.riderangersride.com.
