MAGNOLIA, ARKANSAS - Northwestern Oklahoma State baseball started a three game series with Southern Arkansas on Friday afternoon. Southern Arkansas took both games over the Rangers after a 4-2 win followed by a 1-0 battle in a pitcher's duel.
Northwestern drops to 28-17 on the season with a 17-12 conference record along with a 8-10 record on the road.
GAME ONE:
Dylan Bradord and Hagen Barcello each added two hits in the game, one loss as Paul Sachen and Barcello each drove in a run.
The Rangers looking to start strong had two singles to open the game but Southern Arkansas got out of the inning with a line out and back to back strikeouts. Garrett DeHaas followed with a scoreless inning working around a hit.
The game remained scoreless into the third inning when the Rangers offense struck after a single with two outs kept the inning a live moving Bradford to third led to a Hagen Barcello RBI single to left field for a 1-0 lead.
Southern Arkansas though got the run back quickly after a leadoff double by McGinnis came around to score after back to back ground outs moved him to third and home for a 1-1 game.
In the fourth inning the Rangers loaded the bases after a single from Bradford moved Grace to third and Jacob Wilthsire to second but Southern Arkansas escaped. The Muleriders carried the momentum into the bottom of the fourth taking their first lead of the series with back to back RBI singles for the 3-1 lead over the Rangers.
Southern Arkansas extended their lead in the fifth inning when Richardson hit a sacrifice fly to right field, pushing across the fourth run and a 4-1 lead over the Rangers.
Northwestern got the one run back in the sixth inning after Paul Sachen went to bat with runners on first and second hitting an RBI single to score Trevor Stiles to cut the deficit to 4-2.
The Rangers got three scoreless innings combined from Dawson Toborg and Max McClain but were unable to complete a comeback as Southern Arkansas took game one 4-2 over the Rangers.
GAME TWO:
Rangers finished with three hits in game two, one each from Bradford, Trevor Saire and Chad Green. Colby Mitchell threw a complete game for the Rangers throwing six innings only allowing one run for the Rangers.
Southern Arkansas was the first to score in game two of the afternoon as two straight singles put a runner in scoring position before a Woolbright single pushed the Muleriders in front 1-0
Rangers had a hit in the second inning from Green looking to get the run back but Southern Arkansas kept the game at 1-0.
The two starting pitchers battled back and forth keeping the game at 1-0 for the next four innings going into the sixth. Northwestern had a two out single by Bradford before Carson Wright reached on a throwing error. However Southern Arkansas' defense recovered with a play at the plate keeping the game 1-0 in their favor after throwing home as Bradford tried to score and was called out.
Trevor Saire hit a single back up the middle in the seventh inning but Mike Howell the Southern Arkansas pitcher got a pop up to close out the game and give Southern Arkansas the doubleheader sweep and take the series over the Rangers.
Northwestern will be back in action on Saturday to close out the three game series with Southern Arkansas. First pitch is scheduled to start at Noon.
