The Ranger baseball team opened its conference schedule with a three-game series against Harding University, followed by a game against the Newman University Jets.
All four of the games were away. The Rangers lost all three games to the Bison, but defeated the Jets 14-3.
NWOSU 3-4 HU
In the first game against the Bison, the Rangers scored in the first inning. Alex Dabrowski scored on a wild pitch to give the Rangers an early lead. There were no more runs scored until the bottom of the third and fourth innings, where Harding scored one run in both innings to take the lead. The Bison then scored in the bottom of the sixth to extend their lead to two over the Rangers.
Then, in the seventh, the Rangers scored two to tie it at three. Tyler Hogan hit a single to the right and sent Blake Mattern home, then Joel Lindahl hit a double to left field to send Chase Gordon home, tying the game.
The game stayed tied until the ninth, where the Bison scored a walk-off run to win the game 3-4.
Mattern, Hogan and Lindahl all had one hit a piece. Will Kates pitched eight innings and had seven strikeouts.
NWOSU 1-2 HU
The second game of the series only lasted seven innings.
It started with two scoreless innings. Then, the Rangers scored a run in the top of the third. Gordon hit a single to right, sending Mattern home. The Bison responded in the next inning with two runs scored. That closed the game, giving Harding the second win of the series.
NWOSU 4-12 HU
Harding started hitting their stride and scored eight more runs than the Rangers.
The Bison opened the scoring early, as they scored three runs in the bottom of the first. NWOSU responded in the next inning by scoring two. Cole Barton hit a single to the left, sending Hogan and Brody Harris home. The Rangers then scored one at the top of the third. The Bison had a fielding error by second base, allowing Hogan to make it to first, and Lindahl made it home to tie it at three.
After that error, the Bison scored four in the bottom of the fourth and made it a 7-4 game. The Rangers scored one at the top of the sixth as Barton hit a single to left field to send Jailon Goodfellow home. The Bison canceled out that run, as they scored one in the bottom of the sixth. Harding scored one in the seventh and three in the eighth to stamp out the Rangers and end the series.
Brody Harris had three hits. Barton had the most RBIs with three. Trey Barkman and Austin Maddox both had four strikeouts.
NWOSU 14-3 NEW
The Rangers stomped the Jets on Tuesday, beating them by over ten.
In the first, the Rangers scored three. Baily hit a single to center field to send Dabrowski home, Hogan hit a sacrifice fly to send Mattern home and Gordon hit a double to center, which sent Bailey home.
Then in the second, Grady Thomas hit a homer to left field to send him home, taking Lindahl with him. Then, Bailey hit a sacrifice fly to center field to send Mattern home.
In the fourth, Mattern hit a groundout to first base to send Lindahl home. Then, the Jets scored two in the fourth.
In the seventh, NWOSU scored seven to increase their lead to 12, then the Jets made an attempt by scoring one in the bottom of the seventh, but it helped them very little.
The next games on the Rangers’ schedule are against Arkansas Tech University. They play the Wonderboys in a three-game series on Friday and on Saturday.