By OAKLEE FIELDER
The Rangers won three of their five games last week, including a three-game series against Southeastern Oklahoma State University over the weekend.
Their first game was against the Washburn University Ichabods on Wednesday. They then had a day off before facing Southeastern Oklahoma State on Friday and Saturday. After the weekend was over, they faced Rogers State University on Tuesday.
WAS 4-6 NWOSU
The Rangers had a tight game against the Ichabods, ending in a late-game hit to earn two runs over Washburn.
Neither team scored in the first inning. In the second, Washburn scored two runs to take the lead over the Rangers.
NWOSU responded in the third with a triple from Blake Mattern to send Trey Gray and Grady Thomas home, tying the game at two. The next two innings were scoreless.
In the sixth, Washburn scored one run to take back their lead over the Rangers, but in the bottom of the sixth, the Rangers scored two runs with a homerun from Amari Goodfellow to take he and Mattern home, giving the Rangers the lead for the first time in the game.
The Ichabods tied it in the seventh at four. In the eighth, Jailon Goodfellow was walked with the bases loaded, giving the Rangers the lead by one. Then, Matthew Bailey hit a single up the middle to send Joel Lindahl home. The Ichabods did not respond, and the Rangers topped Washburn 4-6.
Mattern and Amari Goodfellow both had two RBIs to their names. No player had more than one hit or one run. Kaden Spray had the most strikeouts of the five pitchers for NWOSU against Washburn with three. Karter Simon, Ryan McClaskey and Elias Herrera all had two. No Ranger pitcher threw for more than three innings.
SEOSU 6-9 NWOSU
The first game against Southeastern was a high-scoring offensive game.
The Rangers scored six in the opening inning to set an early tone against the Savage Storm.
Amari Goodfellow hit a homerun with Mattern and Alex Dabrowski on base, earning the Rangers three runs. Later, Bailey hit a sacrifice fly to right field, but it allowed Cole Barton to run home and make it a four-run game. Then, Chase Gordon hit a single to send Lindahl home followed by a single from Thomas to send Jailon Goodfellow home. At the end of the top of the first, the Rangers were up by six. In the bottom half of the first, the Savage Storm hit a homerun to cut the Rangers’ lead down to five.
The Rangers were unable to score again until the top of the eighth. By then, Southeastern scored five runs to tie it at six. Then in the eighth, The Rangers scored three to seal the game. Amari Goodfellow hit a single up the middle to send Dabrowski and Thomas home. Following that, Barton hit a single to right center to send Gray home and give the Rangers a three-run lead.
Barton had three hits in game one against Southeastern, with one run and one RBI. Amari Goodfellow had five RBIs in just two hits.
Will Kates threw six strikeouts and only had one base on balls.
SEOSU 4-7 NWOSU
In the second game against Southeastern and the first of the doubleheader on Saturday, the Rangers pulled off another win, despite Southeastern having a comeback in the bottom of the ninth.
In the first, Mattern hit a single to right field to send Dabrowski home. In the next inning, Thomas hit a groundout to shortstop, but this allowed Jailon Goodfellow to run home and score. Then, Dabrowski hit a single allowing Gordon to run home and make a three-run game.
Then in the fourth, Thomas hit a single to left field to send Jailon Goodfellow home. Mattern then hit a single to left field and that sent Thomas home, giving the Rangers a 5-run lead.
The Savage Storm attempted to reel the Rangers in throughout the fourth and fifth innings, but only scored twice. In the seventh, the Rangers scored twice with a single from Bailey to send Barton home and a single from Thomas to send Bailey home. Southeastern scored twice in the bottom of the ninth to make it a 7-4 game, but their attempts of a comeback were not enough and the Rangers won game two.
Barton had three hits and one run scored. Mattern had two RBIs and two hits. Trey Barkman had five strikeouts and had two hits against him.
SEOSU 9-2 NWOSU
After defeating the Savage Storm twice, Southeastern responded with a win in the final game between the two. Southeastern scored twice in the first, which was responded with a single by Gordon in the second. His hit allowed Jailon Goodfellow to run home and make it a one-run game. There were no runs scored until the fifth, where Gordon hit a homerun to left center field, tying the game at 2.
In the sixth, the Savage Storm scored seven runs to take a large lead over the Rangers, sealing the visitors win and ending the three-game series.
Amari Goodfellow had three hits in four at-bats. Gordon had two hits and two RBIs. Nathan Nunez had five strikeouts.
ROG 12-2 NWOSU
The Rangers lost in a big way to the Hillcats from Rogers State. There were only two runs scored from NWOSU, and they were both homeruns.
Amari Goodfellow hit a homerun in the third and Bailey hit a homerun in the sixth.
Lindahl had the most hits for NWOSU with three. Spray had the most strikeouts with three.
The next games for the Rangers are a triple-header against Southern Arkansas.