Weatherford, Oklahoma - Northwestern Oklahoma State Baseball is set to close out their regular season schedule this weekend against Southwestern Oklahoma State in Weatherford Oklahoma. The series is scheduled for a single game Friday with a 2:00 PM first pitch followed by a Saturday afternoon doubleheader scheduled for 1:00 PM and 4:00 PM.
The Rangers (20-27 overall and 13-17 GAC) enter the weekend coming off a series victory over Arkansas Tech in the last conference series. Northwestern enters play with a 4-16 road record as Northwestern takes on Southwestern.
The Red-and-Black have been led by Yugo Hamakawa with a .376 batting average and a .472 OBP%. He is one of six hitters on the Rangers above .300 joined by Blake Hoffman at .351 who leads the Rangers with the most hits on the team. Along with Brandon Holdren with a .344 batting average, Hayden Priest at .317, Shaughn Kelly at .314 and Brayden Koenig at .311. Hoffman leads the Rangers with 14 home runs on the season with 53 RBI driven in this season. Hamakawa is second with 41 RBIs on eight home runs as three different Rangers have eight on the season. Northwestern on the season is hitting .301 with 64 home runs and 312 RBI through 47 games played.
Edwin Colon leads the Rangers pitching staff through the season as he has a team low 4.71 ERA with a 5-2 record. The five wins is tied for the team high alongside freshman Dylan Collins who is 5-1. Colon has made a team high 19 appearances out of the bullpen while picking up two saves along the way. Ethan Swanson is tied for the team high with 64 strikeouts on the season with Emilio Lovato who has four wins on the season and a team high 64 innings of work.
Scouting the Bulldogs:
The Bulldogs enter the weekend with a 18-25 record and an 11-18 GAC record after dropping seven straight Great American Conference games, including the last three to Harding this past weekend. They had a midweek wi nover Science & Arts of Oklahoma. The Bulldogs have an 11-12 record at home this season.
The Bulldogs this season have been led by Cade Hamilton with a .355 batting average one of five hitters above the .300 mark along with Marc Gonzales, Alex Rice, Miguel Soto, and Enzo Bonventre. Southwestern is led in home runs by Bonventre with 11 on the season off of 43 RBI this season. JC Reed and Taylan Mullins-Ohm are second with six. As a team Southwestern is hitting .286 with 36 home runs and 268 runs batted in.
Southwestern's pitching staff is led by Matt Hopkins with a 3.24 ERA with 16 innings of work with 16 appearances. Grant Ewy leads the team with six wins on the season after making 23 appearances, five of those being in the starting role. Nate Postlethwait leads the team with 67 strikeouts in 67 innings of work and 13 appearances with four wins on the season.
History:
This will be game number 29-31 over the weekend as the Bulldogs lead the series history 21-7 overall against the Rangers. The two teams are 3-3 in the last six games after Southwestern swept the Rangers in 2019 before Northwestern had their revenge with a sweep of the Bulldogs in 2021 entering the weeknd on a three game win streak over Southwestern.
Links:
Stats- https://swosuathletics.com/sidearmstats/baseball/summary
Watch- https://wright.media/six/
