By OAKLEE FIELDER
Ranger baseball defeated the East Central Tigers this weekend in the three-game series, with the final game going ending in the 11th inning.
NWOSU defeated ECU after losing their first six conference games. The three wins against East Central were the first conference wins for the Rangers. As the games went on, the finishing score difference between the two teams got closer and closer.
Ranger Nathan Sandoval was named GAC Pitcher of the Week for his efforts in game two versus the Tigers.
ECU 5-11 NWOSU
In the first inning, the Rangers scored the first run of the game after a balk was called on East Central. Then the Rangers hit a single from Cole Barton to send Blake Mattern home to score the second point of the game.
An error from the Tiger short stop allowed Tyler Hogan to run home and score in the second inning. Then, another error from the Tigers allowed Dabrowski to score to make it 4-0. East Central scored one in the third.
NWOSU responded in the fourth with five runs scored. Joel Lindahl hit a single to center field to sent Amari Goodfellow home. Then, Jailon Goodfellow hit a homerun into right field, sending he, Chase Gordon and Lindahl home to score. Later, Grady Thomas hit a single to right field to send Hogan home.
In the fifth, seventh and eighth, the Tigers scored three runs to make it a 5-run game.
In the eighth, Hogan hit a triple to right to send Gordon and Lindahl home. The Tigers scored once in the ninth to try to reel the Rangers in, but one was not enough and the Rangers won.
Dabrowski, Lindahl, Gordon and Hogan all scored the most runs with two apiece. Jailon Goodfellow had the most RBIs with three. Hogan had the most hits with three. Pitcher Will Kates had seven strikeouts and only five hits against him.
ECU 1- 5 NWOSU
The Tigers started with the upper hand in game two. East Central scored in the first inning to send an early message. The message was not heard.
The Rangers scored four runs in three straight innings. Jason McCarty hit a single to left field to send Gordon home in the fourth, Barton hit a homerun in the fifth and Gordon hit a double into left field to send Hogan home and Jailon Goodfellow hit a ground out to third base to send Gordon home in the sixth. This gave NWOSU a three-point lead, 4-1.
In the eighth, Jailon Goodfellow hit a single up the middle to send Dabrowski home and made it a four-run game. East Central was unable to respond, and the Rangers won game two. Jailon Goodfellow had two RBIs in his three at bats. Sandoval pitched all nine innings and only had five hits against him, and had three strike outs. Sandoval had no base on balls throughout the game.
ECU 1-2 NWOSU
The third and final game of the series went into extra innings and ended in the 11th.
In the first, Barton hit a groundout to first base, which allowed Jailon Goodfellow to run to third and Dabrowski ran home to take an early lead. Not shortly after, ECU scored in the second inning to tie it. The game then went scoreless until the eleventh inning, where Brandon Jennings hit a single. Then, there was an error from the Tigers which allowed Jailon Goodfellow to run home and win the game on a walkoff score.
The low-scoring game was also slow offensively. Neither team had a player with more than two hits. The Rangers had four hits in total and the Tigers had seven. Nathan Nunez and Trey Barkman had the same number of strikeouts with three.
The next game for the Rangers will be against Washburn University on Wednesday. Then, they travel to Durant to face the Southeastern Oklahoma State University Savage Storm, after the three-game series against Southeastern, they face Rogers State University on Tuesday.