ALVA, OKLAHOMA - The Ranger Baseball team is set to host East Central Tigers this weekend for a three game series opening on Friday with a single game with first pitch scheduled for 6:00 PM. This will be followed by a Saturday afternoon doubleheader beginning at 1:00 PM / 4:00 PM. This will be the first meeting between the two teams of the season. 
 

Northwestern (6-8 overall and 3-3GAC) entered the weekend following a mid-week loss to Rogers State Tuesday. The Rangers have won three straight conference games though as they will be coming off a conference series sweep over Arkansas-Monticello. 

The Rangers offense is led by Hayden Priest who is hitting .412 on the season one of five hitters above .300 for Northwestern.
Brandon Holdren (.367), Brayden Koenig (.333), Yugo Hamakawa (.318) and Blake Hoffman (.309) are all above that mark as well. Hoffman leads the team with four home runs on the year with four others tied with three. Koenig leads the team with 13 RBI on the season with Hoffman sitting at 12. Priest leads the team with a .489 on-base percentage as well.
 

As a team the Rangers are hitting .272 on the season with 23 home runs and 82 RBI through the opening 14 games of the season. 
 

The Northwestern pitching staff is led by Emilio Lovato who has thrown 24 innings on the year through four games started. He enters the weekend with a 1-1 record this season. The Ranger started has struck out 29 batters in 24 innings of work. The other wins have come from Edwin Colon has thrown in seven games this season along with earning two saves to date this year with a 2.16 ERA through eight innings of work and seven strikeouts. Dylan Collins has earned two wins in relief throwing 11 total innings striking out eight. Connor Gibson is second on the team with 15.2 innings of work with a 1-1 record. Cade Phelps picked up a win his last time out against Arkansas Monticello. 
 

Scouting the Tigers:
 

The Tigers (1-13 overall and 0-6 GAC) enter the weekend series losing 10 straight games this season including their last six in conference play.  After losing their midweek game to Missouri Southern and getting swept to Arkansas Tech.
 

East Central has two hitters above the .300 mark in batting average as a team they are hitting .229. Mekhi Edwards is hitting .333 followed by Mason Giowacki at .302. Erci Towsley leads the team with two home runs on the year. Giowacki and Edwards are tied for the team high with 8 RBIs on the season. Giowacki has been a force on the base path with six stolen bases on the year. 
 

Colt Bartling leads the team with 15.2 innings of work on the season with an ERA of 6.32 striking out 12 batters. Justin Chitty is second with a 14.2 innings of work and a 9.82 ERA. Bryan Terry has the Tigers win on the year throwing 14 innings through four games started. 
 

History: 

The Tigers lead the series history between the two teams with 18 wins compared to Northwestern 17 after the two teams split the season series 2-2 last season. The Tigers won the three game series two games to one. 
 

Links:

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