ALVA, OKLAHOMA - Northwestern Oklahoma State Baseball opened a three game series Friday evening against East Central with a single game. The Rangers used a two run second inning to take their first lead of the game before a three run third inning pushed the Rangers up 5-2 before closing out the 10-2 victory to start the series.
Northwestern improves to 24-12 on the season with a 14-8 Great American Conference record, along with a 17-4 record at home.Â
The Rangers had two players in Carson Wright and Trevor Saire leading the team with three hits each. Wright had a team high 2-RBIs along with Chad Green, and Hagen Barcello each with two. Northwestern finished with 11 extra base hits including three home runs one each by Green, Barcello, and Jacob Wiltshire.Â
Garrett DeHaas had the start for the Rangers, throwing eight innings striking out 10 in the win earning his third win of the season. The 10 strikeouts was the first time a Rangers pitcher had double digit strikeouts since the 2022 season.
East Central started the scoring with a solo home run in the top of the first inning by Whitaker for a 1-0 lead. The Tigers carried the lead into the bottom of the second inning when the Rangers offense struck for the first time.Â
A three hit, two run inning gave the Rangers the 2-1 lead. The inning started with a Paul Sachen double to left center before a Colby Grace double scored Sachen to tie the game. Trevor Saire hit the third double of the inning to take the 2-1 lead over the Tigers.Â
East Central briefly tied the game in the second inning after an RBI single back up the middle but Trevor Stiles threw out Collins trying to take second on the throw home to the plate to end the inning.Â
Northwestern in the home half of the inning took the lead back on five hits and three runs. It started with a Carson Wright single with one out before an RBI single by Sachen led to a 2-run home run by Barcello for the 5-2 lead over East Central.Â
Garrett DeHaas struck out two and picked off a runner in the fourth inning to follow the Rangers big inning with a scoreless inning. This led to the bottom half of the fourth when the Rangers scored for the third consecutive inning. Dylan Bradford tripled to right center before a Carson Wright RBI double off the wall for the 6-2 lead.Â
The score stayed 6-2 into the bottom of the sixth inning when the Rangers offense scored multiple runs for the third time of the game. Led off by a Jacob Wiltshire home run to left field to extend the lead to 7-2. Bradford doubled before two batters later Chad Green pushed the lead to 9-2 on a 2-run home run.Â
Northwestern was able to add one more in the eighth inning when a Wiltshire double to start the inning led to an RBI single for Wright and a 10-2 Ranger lead. Zac McEachern threw a scoreless ninth inning to seal the Rangers win over the Tigers taking the series opener.Â
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