BETHANY, OKLAHOMA - Northwestern Oklahoma State Baseball opened a three-game series against the Crimson Storm on Friday afternoon. The Rangers opened the scoring for the first lead before a five-run eighth sealed the win over Southern Nazarene in the series opener.

The Rangers improve to 18-14 on the season with an 8-11 Great American Conference record, while Southern Nazarene drops to 8-23 on the season and a 3-16 conference mark.

In the victory over Southern Nazarene the Rangers were led in hits by Hagen Barcello with three while scoring three runs and driving in two. Northwestern had four players with two hits, and everyone had at least one. Colby Grace led the team with a 3-RBI afternoon. 

Will Kats threw seven innings, striking out seven and allowing one earned run while earning win number five on the season. 

To open the game, the two teams battled through a pitcher's duel, totaling one hit between the two teams in the first three innings off a single by Grace, before a double play ended the second inning.  Northwestern left a total of three base runners on in those innings after drawing three walks. 

It was the fourth inning when both teams scored but the Rangers struck first in the top of the inning. A Gavin Mendoza walk and a Barcello single put two runners on base before an RBI fielder's choice scored the game's first run. Then, later on in the play a throwing error allowed a second run to cross the plate and give Northwestern a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning.

The Crimson Storm could not tie the game but did answer back with one run, cutting the Ranger lead in half on a first and third double play, scoring their first run as the Rangers lead 2-1 after four innings.

Northwestern extended the lead in the fifth inning after two singles to leadoff the inning started by Dylan Bradford and Carson Wright set up a second RBI fielder's choice this time from Connor Green as the Rangers led 3-1. The lead was pushed to 4-1 in the fifth inning after a Chase Gordon double and a Chase Hamilton single set up an RBI by Bradford, scoring Gordon. 

Southern Nazarene scored their second run of the game in the fifth inning cutting the Ranger lead down to 4-2 after loading the bases with nobody out led to an RBI sacrifice fly for Hicks.

Northwestern was able to score eight unanswered runs starting in the seventh inning as a first and third opportunity led to an RBI double for Hagen Barcello. He was followed by a Colby Grace 2-RBI single to left field, sending the Rangers in front 7-2. 

The Rangers added five more runs in the eighth inning after a leadoff triple for Bradford led to an RBI double by Connor Green. After loading the bases following a single from Mendoza, Barcello hit an RBI single, scoring one run. Grace drew an RBI walk before a Gordon RBI single scored Mendoza and gave the Rangers an 11-2 lead. Northwestern scored the Rangers' final run on a wild pitch for the 12-2 lead.

Southern Nazarene did answer back with three runs in their inning as two one out singles led to the big blast of a three run home run as the Rangers lead was cut to 12-5.

The Crimson Storm got one hit in the ninth inning but the Rangers shut down the game with a fly out to close the game out as Elias Herrera got the final six outs of the game to end the 12-5 victory for the Rangers. 

Northwestern Oklahoma State plays a Saturday doubleheader starting at noon, against Southern Nazarene to close out the three game series in Bethany, Oklahoma.