ARKADELPHIA, ARKANSAS - Northwestern Ranger baseball opened a three game series against Henderson State in Arkansas. Henderson State used a four run third inning after the Rangers tied the game at two to take game one of the series 10-3.
Ranges fall to 10-13 on the season with a 6-7 conference record following the game one loss.
Emilio Lovato started the game for the Rangers throwing 2.1 innings of work allowing five earned runs on six hits. He was relieved by Cade Phelps throwing 1.2 innings before Connor Gibson and Kyler Harris pitched the final four innings for the Rangers.
Brandon Holdren led the Rangers offense with two hits along with two RBIs, both team highs in the loss. The two hits were tied with Shaughn Kelly and Brayden Koenig. Kelly scored two of the three Ranger runs with Yugo Hamakawa scoring the other.
The Rangers struck first in the opening half inning with Hamakawa hitting a single to reach base safely before Holdren double would have him come around and score the game's first run. Henderson State answered back though in their half of the inning with a two-run home run by Tucker following a one out walk to take a 2-1 lead after the first inning.
The two teams would trade scoreless second innings before the Rangers tied the game in the top of the third. Kelly led the inning off with a single before Holdren hit his second double in as many at-bats, scoring Kelly to tie the game at two.
Henderson State regained the lead though in the bottom half of the third inning following a hit batter and a single put the first two runners on of the inning. The third run scored on a wild pitch pushing the Henderson State lead to 3-2. With two runners on, a double cleared the bases scoring two more runs for a 5-2 Reddie lead. The fourth run of the inning scored on a sacrifice fly as the Rangers trailed 6-2 through three innings.
The home team extended their lead in the fourth inning with a run off an RBI double by Tucker to push the Henderson State lead to 7-2.
Northwestern answered back in their half of the fifth inning with a run. Kelly hit a double with one out before coming around to score on a wild pitch. This cut the deficit to four at 7-3.
Henderson State extended their lead in the seventh inning with three runs. It started with a leadoff single followed by a walk. This was before Butler hit a home run for a 3-run home run to give the home team a 10-3 lead over the Rangers in the seventh inning.
Ranges were unable to get anything going in the final two innings of the game going down in order as the Rangers fell in game one of the series 10-3.
Northwestern will close out the series Saturday afternoon with a doubleheader as first pitch is scheduled for Noon followed by game two at 30 minutes following the last pitch of game one.
