By OAKLEE FIELDER
Sports Editor
Last weekend, the baseball team faced off in a triple header against the Arkansas Tech University Wonderboys.
ATU 9-NWOSU 3
The first game of the weekend was on Sunday the 23. The first two innings were scoreless for both teams.
In the top of the third, Hagen Barcello hit a single to right field to send Dylan Bradford and Chase Hamilton home to take the lead 0-2.
Arkansas Tech responded with a run in the next inning, and four runs in the fifth. The sixth inning was scoreless. In the seventh inning, the Wonderboys put two on the Rangers, and they did the same in the eighth. In the top of the ninth, Dylan Bradford hit a single to first base and sent Carson Wright home, but it was nowhere near enough to catch Arkansas Tech.
ATU 10-NWOSU 2
The second game was on Sunday after game 1. In the first inning, Connor Green hit a sacrifice fly to center field to send Bradford home and make it 0-1. Arkansas responded with four runs and took a large lead over the Rangers early again. The second inning was scoreless.
In the third, Wright grounded out which allowed Hamilton to run home and make it 4-2. Arkansas Tech shot right back and scored a run to equal the one the Rangers just made.
In the fourth inning, the Wonderboys put a stomping on the Rangers and put up five runs to make their score ten. The rest of the game was scoreless and the game ended in the seventh inning.
3ATU 7-NWOSU 4
The third game of the series was on Monday the 24. The first three innings of the game was scoreless.
In the bottom of the fourth, Arkansas Tech scored a run to get the first point of the game.
The fifth inning was scoreless. In the sixth, Wright hit a single and made it to first base on a fielder’s choice.
Sachen made it to second but there was an error and he made it to third.
Connor Green ran home on the error and scored, but Colby Grace was out at home base right after Green made it home. After the chaos, Wright hit a single to left center which allowed Barcello to run home and take the lead for the Rangers. In the seventh, the Wonderboys scored three times to take the lead back and get two runs ahead of Northwestern. In the eighth, Arkansas Tech repeated their feat in the seventh, and increased their lead to five over the Rangers.
In the top of the ninth, with their final chance to win their first conference game, the Rangers had to figure something out to pull this win off. Connor Green hit a ground out to sacrifice himself and that sent Hamilton home to make it a four-run game. Sachen hit a sacrifice ball to right field and that sent Bradford home and made it a three-run game.
Unfortunately, that was all the Rangers had in them. Northwestern will face off against Rogers State University on February 26, play a triple header against ECU on February 28-March 1 in Ada, and play Rogers State again on March 4 in Claremore. They have yet to win a GAC Conference game.
The Rangers currently sit in the last position in the Great American Conference baseball standings.
They sit in 12 out of 12, sitting under East Central Universirty.
NWOSU has a conference record of 0-6