Baseball April 09, 2021 Andrew Santangelo, Athletic Communications

Rangers Baseball Looks to Stay Hot playing host to Oklahoma Baptist this Weekend

ALVA, Okla.- Northwestern Oklahoma State Rangers baseball will play host this weekend to the Bison of Oklahoma Baptist for a three-game series starting on Friday. The schedule for the weekend series will be played, with one game on Friday with the first pitch at 6 PM, with a double header on Saturday with the first pitch at 1 PM and 4 PM.

Northwestern Oklahoma State enters the weekend with a 15-8 overall record, 12-6 in Great American Conference play in fourth place, two games behind Oklahoma Baptist for first. Rangers will enter the weekend on a nine-game winning streak.

The Ranges are coached by head coach Ryan Bowen in the middle of his fourth season with the Ranges baseball program, holding a career record of 73-72 in his career with the program.

The Red-and-Black offense is led by Marques Paige as one of six "qualified" hitters over the .300 mark on the season. Paige leads the team with a .386 average and an OPS of 1.372, with an SLG% of .928. His 13 HR, along with 30 RBI is a team-high on the season. Paige's 13 HR lead the division II nation in home runs. Preston Lonadier is second on the team with a .368 average. OPS of 1.001 with a team-high 11 doubles on the season for a team-high along with second in the conference. Yugo Hamakawa is hitting .344 on the season with a total of 10 extra-base hits with six doubles and four home runs. Daschal Johnson is fourth hitting .337 on the season, he is one of four Rangers hitters with at least 20 RBI. He has four home runs, three triples, and six doubles on the year for the second-most extra-base hits. Jake White is coming off of the Great American Conference player of the week after hitting .667 with three home runs and 13 RBI. On the season he is hitting .333 with four home runs and 25 RBI which is the second most for the Red-and-Black for seventh in the conference. Dylan Norsen leads the team with 16 walks on the season for an OBP of .431 and a batting average of .301. Blake Hoffman is hitting .432 on the year with an OBP of .500 through 16 games played this season with six extra-base hits, three doubles and three home runs.

The Rangers pitching staff led by starter Scott Creedon through six starts made has a 1.80 ERA for second in the conference. He has the best opponent batting average against at .203 while tied for second with the most wins on the year at five. Ethan Swanson leads the team in strikeouts with 27 on the season through 24.1 IP in seven appearances this year. Austin Thomason and Dillon Van Oosbree have an ERA of 4.15 and 4.26, respectively, in their appearances. Kaleb Honea is second in the nation, first in the conference with seven saves to this point in the season, and first in the Great American Conference. Honea holds a 1.00ERA and a .89 WHIP on the year with 23 strikeouts in 18 innings of work.

Oklahoma Baptist:

The Bison of Oklahoma Baptist comes into the weekend 15-7 with a 14-4 conference record in first place in the GAC, holding a two-game lead over the Rangers for first. The Bison are coming off a three-game sweep over the Savage Storm last week and will enter the weekend on a five-game winning streak.

The Oklahoma Baptist head coach is Chris Cox, who has been with OBU since 2014 but took over the Bison head coaching job in 2019. He holds a 31-13 record with the program.

OBU has three hitters hitting over the .300 mark on the season. First is Kaimana Bartolome, with a .398 mark on the season with five home runs and five doubles for 22RBI, on the year. Hector Ruvalcaba is second with a .397 average on the season 1.299 OPS leading the team in home runs with nine and RBI with 26 on the season for the team lead and fifth in the conference. The third hitter over .300 is Ramon Enriquez, with a .301 average on the year with 16 RBI this season. Eric Carlson and Cliff Pradd are hitting .358 and .328 respectively on the season, both not having enough at-bats to qualify but have started in 15 and 16 games this year.

The Bison pitching staff is led in wins by Brett Biggs with a 4-0 record, with all eight of his appearances coming in relief. He holds a 4.00ERA with a team-high two saves as well in 18 innings of work. Bo Dallas is 2-0 in seven starts made with a 4.05ERA for the best ERA amongst the Bison starting pitching. Jake Lipetzky follows Dallas with a 2-2 record with a 4.13 ERA in seven starts made to open the season. Raul Rizzo has the next highest amount of starts with five, holding a 7.36ERA. The Bison have five different players with saves on the year with Tyler Frank with the second-lowest ERA out of the bullpen with 4.73.

History:

The Red-and-Black look to change the narrative on the history between the two programs after getting swept last season in Shawnee Oklahoma. The Rangers have now lost five straight series against the Bison since 2016.

Follow the game:

WATCH: https://www.youtube.com/user/NWOSURangers

STATS: https://riderangersride.com/sidearmstats/baseball/summary

Listen: https://mixlr.com/classic-hits-1057-krdr

For the latest news and updates on NWOSU Baseball, follow @NWOSUAthletics on TWITTER or visit www.riderangersride.com.

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Players Mentioned

#11 Scott Creedon: RHP / R/R; 5' 11"; Redshirt Sophomore

#5 Yugo Hamakawa: SS / L/R; 5' 8"; Junior

#12 Blake Hoffman: LHP L/L; 6' 3"; Redshirt Junior

#10 Kaleb Honea: RHP / R/R; 6' 0"; Senior

#2 Daschal Johnson: OF / R/R; 5' 8"; Senior

#13 Preston Lonadier: OF / R/R; 5' 10"; Redshirt Sophomore

#27 Dylan Norsen: OF / R/R; 6' 0"; Junior

#6 Marques Paige: INF / R/R; 6' 0"; Senior

#15 Ethan Swanson: RHP / R/R; 5' 9"; Junior

#26 Austin Thomason: RHP / R/R; 6' 0"; Senior

Players Mentioned

#11 Scott Creedon
: 5' 11"; Redshirt Sophomore
: RHP / R/R

#5 Yugo Hamakawa
: 5' 8"; Junior
: SS / L/R

#12 Blake Hoffman
: 6' 3"; Redshirt Junior
: LHP L/L

#10 Kaleb Honea
: 6' 0"; Senior
: RHP / R/R

#2 Daschal Johnson
: 5' 8"; Senior
: OF / R/R

#13 Preston Lonadier
: 5' 10"; Redshirt Sophomore
: OF / R/R

#27 Dylan Norsen
: 6' 0"; Junior
: OF / R/R

#6 Marques Paige
: 6' 0"; Senior
: INF / R/R

#15 Ethan Swanson
: 5' 9"; Junior
: RHP / R/R

#26 Austin Thomason
: 6' 0"; Senior
: RHP / R/R