By NICK VILLALOBOS
Sports Editor
Ranger baseball ended the season last weekend as rival Southwestern pulled off a series sweep.
As play began Friday evening at Myers Stadium for the final series of the year, the Rangers quickly found themselves in a deficit.
The Bulldogs jumped on starting Ranger pitcher Matthew Bickford, as he allowed four runs through the first two innings of play.
The Rangers got on the board in the second inning after a solo home run by Jeremy Smith.
Southwestern would add another run in the third inning, stretching their lead to 5-1.
After a ground out by Senior Jeff Martin, the Rangers would add another run when Cody Jones came across the plate.
Senior Joshua Caruso would bring in another run for the Rangers in the sixth inning when he connected for a RBI double.
Despite the Rangers closing the deficit to three in the sixth that would be all the Bulldogs would allow for the remainder of the game.
The Bulldogs would close the game by scoring six runs in the ninth inning, pushing their lead to 12-3. The late runs was just enough to silence the Rangers.
Games two and three each saw the Rangers falling again but it was not without a fight from the red and black.
In game two of the series, the Rangers fell in a dramatic heartbreaker in extra innings.
After falling behind early in the third inning, when the Bulldogs pulled out a to a 6-0 lead, the Rangers’ bats came to life.
In the fourth inning, following a double by Jason Freeman, Logan Porter was the first to get on the board for the Rangers. Freeman would also follow Porter across the plate, when senior Joshua Caruso connected for a single.
Southwestern added three more runs in the fifth to stretch their lead to 9-2.
The Rangers however would not go down easily as in the next four innings they would rally back for eight runs, giving them a 10-9 lead.
The Bulldogs unfortunately would spoil the charge by the Rangers as they added on two more runs in the ninth and tenth innings, giving them the 11-10 game-two win.
In game three, the Rangers fell 7-3 to the Bulldogs as the four graduating seniors said goodbye to their time at Northwestern.
Seniors Mike Figuieredo, Joshua Caruso, Jeff Martin and Christian Lafontan were honored with a framed jersey, each displaying their own number, before the game three series finale.
Both Caruso and Martin finished their senior season with a combined 51 total runs and 118 total hits. Martin led the team with a .382 batting average while Caruso was close behind with a .310 batting average.
Figuieredo finished with a 6.35 ERA in his senior season while Lafontan finished with an unfortunate 8.75.
The Rangers finished with a 19-29 overall record and a disappointing 8-22 GAC record.