ALVA, OKLAHOMA - Northwestern Oklahoma State Rangers Baseball closed out the three game series with Arkansas Tech Saturday afternoon into the evening. The Rangers took game one 3-2 after Colby Mitchell fired off seven scoreless innings. Arkansas Tech responded with an 8-0 win over the Rangers. Northwestern overall won the series over the Wonder Boys.

The Rangers are now 18-9 on the season with a 10-5 Great American Conference record. At home Northwestern is now 15-5.

GAME ONE: 

Northwestern and Arkansas Tech battled through game one much like the opening game of the series in a pitcher's duel. Colby Mitchell threw seven strong scoreless innings for the Rangers. The game stayed 0-0 through the first three innings of the game.

Mitchell did not allow a hit until the third inning, as he worked around two singles to keep it scoreless. It was the bottom of the fourth inning when the Northwestern offense struck first with a solo home run to center field by Hagen Barcello for the 1-0 lead in the fourth inning.

After a scoreless fifth Northwestern then extended the lead in the bottom half of the inning starting with a Bradey Bejarano singled down the line and being moved to second on a Chase Gordon sacrifice bunt. Jacob Wiltshire then singled in Bejarano for the 2-0 lead. The inning continued after a Bradford single as Carson Wright extended the lead to 3-0 on a sacrifice fly scoring Wilthsire. 

It was in the 8th inning when Arkansas Tech got on the board with a leadoff double which would then score in the inning on a fielder's choice. In the ninth inning Arkansas Tech looking to at least tie the game had their first two runners reach base safely on a single and an error before a sacrifice fly scored the second run cutting the lead down to 3-2. However Jacob Shaw then shut the door down with a fly out and a ground out to seal the 3-2 victory and complete the series win over the Wonder Boys.

GAME TWO:

Jacob Fuller threw a scoreless first inning striking out two batters as the two teams remained scoreless into the second inning when Arkansas Tech's offense struck first. The Wonder Boys had back to back singles to start the inning before a walk loaded the bases. A single back up the middle scored two runs giving the Wonder Boys a 2-0 lead.

Arkansas Tech added one more in the third inning after a single and a sacrifice bunt put a runner in scoring position before a Ranallo single gave Arkansas Tech a 3-0 lead.

In the fourth inning the visitors extended the lead with a 2-run home run to make it a 5-0 game over the Rangers.

Northwestern had their best chance to score in the sixth inning after two singles and a runner reaching on an error for bases loaded nobody out situation. However Arkansas Tech responded with three straight strikeouts to escape the jam and keep the game at 5-0.

The Wonder Boys took the momentum into the seventh inning, adding onto their lead one last time with three runs in the seventh to take an 8-0 lead. Arkansas Tech closed out the game with the 8-0 win to take the last game of the series.

Northwestern will be on the road for four straight games this next week starting with a Tuesday midweek game against Emporia State before taking on Harding for a three game series over the weekend.