By MEGAN MAHARRY
Sports Reporter
The Ranger men’s baseball team took to the road to open up their GAC road series in Arkansas to face No. 27 Southern Arkansas in a three-game series. The Rangers were swept 3-0.
In game one on Friday, the Rangers fell 10-0.
The Ranger’s struggle to get their offense going, despite a solid start for pitcher Matt Goertzen. In the first four innings, Goertzen held Southern Arkansas to just one run in the first three innings. He gave up four earned runs and struck out six batters along the way.
Catcher Brendan Kates was the only Ranger to record a hit on the with a single in the top of the fifth inning.
The Rangers were back in action on Saturday for a double-header, but lost both games 12-6 and 11-2.
The Ranger men faced ace pitcher Jacob Stroder for Southern Arkansas, who stuck out 13. The Rangers were able to get five base hits off Stroder.
Southern Arkansas took the early 3-0 lead in the first, but the Rangers bounced back to take the lead 4-3 in the second inning.
RBI singles from Luis Cintron, Jorin Van Amstel and Justin Bundy gave the Rangers their first four runs. Bundy leads the Rangers with 29 total RBI’s.
The Rangers were unable to stop Southern Arkansas from crossing the plate in the rest of the innings.
Steven Deckard and Greg Carrington scored two more runs in the ninth, but the Rangers were downed 12-6.
In the series finale, the Rangers fell 11-2. Southern Arkansas put up runs in the first inning and another big fourth inning sealed their victory over the Rangers.
Ranger pitcher Walker Wharton had trouble against Southern Arkansas, pitching in three innings and surrendering eight runs on five hits and a walk.
The two Ranger runs came from Daschal Johnson in the third and Judah Zickafoose in the sixth. It was Johnson’s fourth home run of the season, and Zickafoose’s eighth of the year.
The Rangers next play a single game against Southeastern Oklahoma State University and will follow with a three-game series against GAC opponent Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee.