ALVA, Okla. – The Northwestern Oklahoma State baseball team defeated New Mexico Highlands, 9-8, on Friday afternoon.
The Rangers struck first against the Cowboys with a triple to the right field wall by
Jailon Goodfellow, who was able to score on a wild pitch to put Northwestern ahead.
Cole Barton added on another run by blasting a double to center field to put the Rangers up 2-0 at the end of the first inning. The Cowboys responded with three runs in the top of the second to take a 3-2 lead, but the Rangers answered in the bottom of the third with
Blake Mattern drawing a walk and stealing second, and Goodfellow singling to right field tied the game up at 3-3. Barton kept the Ranger rally going with a single to bring Goodfellow home from third to give Northwestern the 4-3 lead.
New Mexico Highlands retook the lead with a three-run fourth inning to go up 6-4, but the Rangers seesawed back in front with a three-run bomb from
Alex Dabrowski, followed by a Goodfellow double and a single from Barton to bring him home and give the Rangers a 8-6 advantage. The Cowboys answered with a run in the sixth, and the Rangers put runners in scoring position off a single from
Jason McCarty and a double from
Matthew Bailey, but could not bring them home. The Cowboys scored in the top of the ninth, sending the game into extra innings. After a scoreless tenth inning,
Ryan McClaskey struck out all three Cowboys to keep the momentum on Northwestern's side, and the Rangers got the bases loaded in the bottom of the 11th, but could not drive in a run. The battle continued all the way into the 14th inning, when Bailey singled and moved to third off a Dabrowski ground out and a wild pitch. With the Rangers once again down to the final out in the inning,
Tyler Hogan singled down the third base line to give the Rangers a walk-off win, 9-8.
Five different players led the Rangers in hits with three, while Barton and Dabrowski each had three RBI. McClaskey led the Rangers pitching staff with seven strikeouts on the day, while
Austin Maddox picked up his first win as a Ranger.
The Rangers will be back in action tomorrow, when they continue the series against the Cowboys in a doubleheader starting at noon at Myers Stadium.
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