BY OAKLEE FIELDER
The Rangers had eight games over the break, ending with three wins and five losses to the Rangers’ record, just over halfway through the season.
The Rangers faced two GAC teams in three-game series and Panhandle State twice.
Southern Arkansas was their first opponent. Their games fell on March 13 and 14. The Rangers won the second game of the three-game series 7-5. Game one against Southern Arkansas ended in extra innings. Game three was a 13-3 loss.
In game one against the Muleriders, the Rangers were able to gain an early, large lead. They scored four in the second inning and two in the third. Unfortunately, Southern Arkansas scored one in the first and three in the third, only giving the Rangers a two-run lead. The Muleriders cut the lead down to just one in the following inning.
By the end of the fifth, the game was tied at seven. NWOSU was able to score twice in the sixth to earn their lead back. Then, in the sixth, the Muleriders scored three runs to take the lead for themselves by one. The two teams traded runs in the eighth, starting the ninth with the score 10-11. In the top of the ninth, Alex Dabrowski stole home to tie the game at 11, sending the game into extra innings.
In the tenth, the Muleriders had a walkoff run to win the game, defeating the Rangers 12-11.
Cole Barton had three hits and two runs scored. Blake Mattern had three RBIs and two hits. Altogether, the Rangers’ pitchers only had three strikeouts throughout the game. Elias Herrera had the most with two.
Game two against the Muleriders ended in a NWOSU win.
The Rangers were able to outscore the Muleriders in every inning but the third.
Brody Harris hit a sacrifice fly to left field, sending Joel Lindahl home and give the Rangers the lead.
Southern Arkansas scored four runs in the third inning, giving them a three-run lead.
In the following inning, the Rangers tied it. Jason McCarty hit a single to the middle sending Chase Gordon home. Then, the Mulerider pitcher walked the next two Ranger batters with the bases loaded, giving NWOSU two free runs.
In the sixth, Mattern hit a single up the middle sending McCarty home. Then, Barton hit a groundout to shortstop, allowing Dabrowski to run home and score.
In the seventh inning, McCarty hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield, sending Gordon home. The Muleriders scored one run in the bottom of the seventh, but it wasn’t enough.
Mattern, Gordon and McCarty had two hits apiece. McCarty and Mattern both had two RBIs. Logan Sandoval pitched for six innings and had two strikeouts and walked three.
In game three against Southern Arkansas, the Rangers scored twice in the first. Despite this, the Muleriders flipped it, and ended the game in a run-rule after they got a 10-run lead over the Rangers. NWOSU had nine hits. Matthew Bailey, Lindahl and McCarty each had two. Bailey had two RBIs. Alex Figueroa had the most strikeouts for the Ranger pitchers with two.
After the tough loss against the Muleriders, the Rangers turned around and took it out on Panhandle State, where they defeated the Aggies 21-11.
Northwestern scored four in the second, seven in the third, two in the fourth, fifth and sixth and then scored four more in the eighth to force a run rule on the Aggies.
Barton and Gordon both hit homeruns to help the Rangers win. Gordon had four hits, five runs and four RBIs in his five at-bats. Lindahl and McCarty had three hits, McCarty also had four RBIs.
Karter Simon and Figueroa had two strikeouts and one walk apiece.
After putting a beatdown on the Aggies, the Rangers stayed home to play against the University of Arkansas at Monticello. The Boll Weevils are currently the best team in the GAC, so the Rangers had a tough three games ahead of them.
Tough is exactly what those games were. The Rangers were outscored throughout the weekend 28-6. The Boll Weevils won all three games, two of them by more than seven. Despite the fact that the games were tough, the Rangers still found some success. Dabrowski had three hits in game one, and scored the only run in the game for the Rangers. In game two, Sandoval pitched for five innings and had eight strikeouts, and in game three, Nathan Nunez and Kaden Spray had four strikeouts apiece, so despite the losses, NWOSU was successful in some ways.
The Rangers faced Panhandle state once again on Tuesday, but this time they were in Goodwell. Northwestern defeated the Aggies 14-3, ending in a run rule again.
The Rangers scored an amazing 12 runs in the fifth and sixth innings combined. There was no real star hitter in the second faceoff against the Aggies, as no Ranger had more than two hits. Despite that, Dabrowski had four RBIs and McCarty had three. Kyle Holzer threw three strikeouts in the five innings he pitched.
After the end of spring break, the Rangers sit 10th in the GAC standings, above East Central and below Southwestern. Their next games will be against last place, Southern Nazarene on Friday and Saturday.