By Cade Kennedy, Sports Editor
The Northwestern baseball team won its series against the Tigers of East Central.
Unlike most series in the Great American Conference, the Rangers played the Tigers four times, as the Rangers traveled to Ada for games on Friday and Saturday before playing again in a non-conference game in Enid Tuesday night.
In game one of the series on Friday, the Rangers immediately jumped out to a 2-0 lead, as Trevor Saire singled to left while Hagen Barcello hit a sacrifice fly. The Tigers responded in the bottom of the first with three runs to give East Central a 3-2 lead after one inning.
Both offenses continued to trade blows until the fifth inning when the offenses stopped clicking. The Rangers trailed 8-5 going into the top of the seventh, but Barcello hit a home run to cut the deficit down to two. The Rangers failed to score again, and the Tigers tacked on another run to get a 9-6 win.
Game two of the series was the first of two games on Saturday, and the Rangers once again scored in the first inning. Saire hit a sacrifice fly to left field to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead. The similarities between games one and two continued, as East Central scored in the bottom of the first to tie the game at 1-1.
The game turned into a pitching duel, as both defenses stepped up throughout the rest of the game. Barcello broke the tie in the fifth inning with a three-run blast that gave the Rangers a 4-1 lead. The Rangers held on to win the game with the same score, 4-1.
In the final game of the conference series, both offenses came back to life. The Rangers and Tigers traded blows in the first half of the game, as each team scored five runs through four innings. In the top of the fifth, Bradey Bejarno ripped a single to left field, which allowed Colby Grace to cross home plate and give the Rangers a 6-5 lead.
In the last game of the series on Tuesday in Enid, the Rangers bombarded East Central, as Northwestern used an eight-run third inning to blow out the Tigers, 12-1.
The next home game for the Rangers is Tuesday against Northeastern State at 2 p.m