By Connor Gray, Senior Reporter
The Northwestern baseball team finished up its weekend series with Henderson State, but only managed to take one game out of three.
The Rangers played a doubleheader Friday and one game Saturday against Henderson. Henderson took game two and three.
First two games of the series were close matchups, but game three wasn’t much.
Game one did not start well for the Rangers, as the Reddies hit a two-run home run in the first inning. The Rangers got a run back after Brandon Holdren hit a single to bring Shaughn Kelly.
Henderson State then put up another run on the board in the second inning to make it 3-1. But in the following inning, the Ranger lineup got a run after a sacrifice fly from Trevor Saire to bring in Holdren to make it 3-2 in favor of the Reddies.
From there it became a defensive game, as pitching from both teams kept both sides from scoring. No runs were scored until the ninth inning.
Colby Grace knocked in a run with a single and Gavin Mendoza was able to win on a walk-off error to left field for the Rangers to win, 4-3.
Game two followed shortly after with both sides putting zeros on the board for the first two innings.
Things seem to be happening like before in the third with the Reddies getting a two-run home run. But that’s where the similarities ended.
The Rangers gave up another two-run home run the following inning. While they did score a run in the fourth, they gave up another pair of runs in the next one to make it 6-1.
Trevor Saire hit a home run in the sixth inning, but no momentum came from it as the Rangers did not get any more runs for the rest of the game and lost, 6-2.
The final game of the series was rough for the Rangers as the offense continued to struggle against the Reddies.
Henderson State blew the Rangers out with a 16-5 win as the Rangers were unable to generate enough offense to stay in the shootout.
On Tuesday, the Rangers made the trip to Claremore to play Rogers State.
The game was a close one as both teams battled down to the wire in the ninth, but the Rangers lost on a walk-off walk with the bases loaded.
The next series for the Rangers will start Friday against Oklahoma Baptist at Myers Stadium. The first game will be at 6 p.m. and Saturday will feature a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m.