By CONNOR GRAY, Assistant Editor
The Northwestern baseball team played an away series against Harding University and lost two out of three games.
Harding took the series against the Rangers by winning two close games, but Harding lost the third game, with Northwestern’s bats coming through.
Game One was tight. Northwestern was winning until the Bisons slowly chipped away at the lead.
The Rangers started the game off with a solo home run from Brandon Holdren.
The Rangers struck again in the fourth inning, with Holdren getting his second solo home run to put them up 2-0.
The pitching for Northwestern got off to a hot start, as the Rangers kept Harding at bay for the first four innings by only allowing two hits.
Tate Schuermann started the game for Northwestern. He pitched the first inning before Ethan Swanson entered to pitch the next five.
“We jumped out to a lead,” head coach Ryan Bowen said. “We were cruising along pretty good until they started coming,”
Swanson started strong, but over time, Harding strung hits together to knock in a run in the bottom of fifth and sixth to make it 3-2.
Harding took the lead after a wild pitch led to a runner scoring from third base and a sacrifice fly made it 4-3 Bisons.
The Rangers tied the game on a home run by Joseph Frisby, but pitching cost the Rangers, as Edwin Colon gave up a double to start the inning.
He got a ground out, but the runner advanced to third. The Rangers intentionally walked the next two batters. Colon threw a wild pitch, giving Harding a 5-4 win.
“We had opportunities to extend the lead, and we didn’t, and that ended up coming back to bite us,” Bowen said.
Game Two was a struggle at the plate for the Rangers. They did not score, losing 4-0.
Dylan Collins pitched the whole game for the Rangers and gave up four runs: one in the third and fourth and two in the sixth.
Game Three was a different story for the Rangers, as they needed a win to avoid being swept. Emilio Lovato pitched for seven innings and helped the Ranger defense keep Harding at bay despite giving up nine hits.
The fifth and ninth innings for the Rangers each had five runs, with the final score being 10-1.
“We played very well,” Bowen said. “Emilio Lovato pitched well, and our offense came to life.”
Northwestern had a game Monday at Emporia State, which was a tightly contested game.
In the first inning, the Rangers got down to two outs but proceeded to ring off multiple hits, with Kelly getting an RBI single and advancing a runner to second.
Later in the inning, Dylan Norsen got a two-RBI double to put the Rangers up 3-0.
Defensively, the Rangers held Emporia State down until the fourth inning, as Zach McEachern gave up three runs.
Schuerman entered the game in place of McEachern and gave up one run, finishing the inning with the score being 4-3.
The Rangers and Hornets were scoreless until the eighth inning, with Northwestern putting together a collection of hits. Brett Erickson got an RBI to tie it 4-4.
Emporia State had a walk off single to win the game in extra innings, 5-4.
“We had a lead, and one inning cost us a little bit,” Bowen said. “We just have to find a way to win close games.”
The next series for Northwestern will be at home against Arkansas Tech University. The first game is Friday at 6 p.m., and a double header will be Saturday at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m.