Last week, NWOSU’s baseball team had three games against Harding University at a neutral site in Sherman, Texas on February 14-15. The Rangers are coming off a 7-5 loss against New Mexico Highlands University, after beating them three times before.
HAR 6-NWOSU 1
The first game against the Bison started off slow. The first inning ended 0-0 with Harding leaving one man on base and the Rangers none.
The second inning was the almost identical, as both teams left one man on base.
In the third inning, Harding was out in three. NWOSU had gotten two hits with Jacob Wiltshire sending Chase Gordon home to take the 0-1 lead. The Rangers left one man on base at the end of the third.
In the fourth, the Bison took the lead with a triple homerun making it 3-1, leaving one man on base. The Rangers were out in just three batters.
The fifth inning was a short one, as both teams did not score any points. The sixth inning was the same story, no points for either team.
In the seventh, Harding hit a single homerun to extend their lead to three. NWOSU failed to respond in the bottom of the seventh.
In the top of the eighth inning, the Bison continued their momentum and scored a single run to make it a 5-1 ballgame. The Rangers failed to respond again in the bottom of the eighth.
In the final inning, Harding didn’t stop their momentum and scored one more run to make the difference five. With one final chance, the Rangers failed to execute and lost the first of three games 6-1.
HAR 3-NWOSU 0
The second game against Harding was later the same day.
The first inning opened with Harding scoring a run to take the early lead of 1-0 and left one runner on base.
The Ranger’s opening inning did not go as well, as they were out in three batters and had no runs.
The next inning was scoreless, Harding leaving one man on base and NWOSU leaving two on base.
The third inning was just as high scoring as the last, as there were no runs made for either team. The Bison left three men on base and NWOSU one.
The fourth inning was also scoreless for both teams, with NWOSU being the only team having a man on base.
In the fifth, the Bison had hit a double homerun to increase their lead to three. The Rangers were not able to respond and left two men on base.
In the sixth inning both teams were out without any hits or runs. The seventh was the same, with no runs being scored.
The game ended after the seventh inning with a Harding victory of 3-0.
HAR 12-NWOSU 7
The third and final game against the Harding Bison was the next day on the fifteenth.
The opening inning started with two runs for the Bison. The Rangers did not score in the first.
In the second, Porter Pittman hit a double to left field to bring Colby Grace home. Zach Vetal hit a single with an error from Harding and that sent Pittman home to tie the game.
In the third, Chad Green hit a single to send Connor Green home and take the lead.
Pittman struck out but reached first due to an error by the Bison, which also send Hagen Barcello and Chad Green home to extend their lead and make it a 2-5 game. In the fourth, Harding hit a single homerun and shrunk the Rangers’ lead.
The fifth inning was scoreless for both teams.
In the sixth Harding hit a single into center field to sent a runner home and make it a one run game.
In the seventh, the Bison scored six runs, four of those being a grand slam and took the lead by five with a score of 10-5.
In the eighth, Harding hit another homerun but this one only being a single. They also hit a single to send one runner home and made the difference six.
Down by seven in the bottom of the ninth, the Rangers had a lot of work to do if they were going to win the final game of the series.
Chase Gordon hit a single to center field and they had a man on base. Dylan Bradford hit a single to right field.
Connor Green hit a double to center field and sent Bradford and Gordon home, and that was all the Rangers had.
The third and final game against the Bison ended 12-7 and the Rangers come home without a win against Harding.
The NWOSU Ranger Baseball team currently sit eleventh out of twelve in the GAC standings, only on top of Southern Nazarene.
On February 21-22 they will go to Russellville, Arkansas to play three games against Arkansas Tech University and on Feb 25, they will be at home against Rogers State University.
