By CONNOR GRAY, Assistant Editor
The Northwestern baseball team played a home series against Ouachita Baptist and came out of it with a series win.
The Rangers won two of three games against the Tigers after losing the first game of a double header on Friday.
The Rangers started having trouble pitching in the second inning, as Brady Bowles and Ethan Swanson gave up a combined six runs after the first inning.
“Brady had a good first inning, and then he lost control,” head coach Ryan Bowen said. “It’s hard to get the tide in the other direction when you get down like that.”
Swanson pitched most of the game afterwards, as the Rangers only gave up two more runs.
The Rangers got only one run out of it, as Shaughn Kelly got an RBI on a ground out to third in the fifth, as the final was 8-1.
The second game was a roller coaster, as the Rangers got behind 4-0 going into the bottom of the fourth.
The Rangers put together three runs, with a sac fly ball from Brayden Koenig that drove in a run. Chase Orrock got a double to drive in another run. Bryan Guerrero got on base on a throwing error to first, which allowed Orrock to score.
In the fifth, Blake Hoffman singled to tie the game at four.
From there, Northwestern took over the game with a two-run double by Brandon Holdren in the sixth, which was followed up by a two-run home run by Hoffman for an 8-4 victory.
“It was a huge come-from-behind win that got momentum going into Saturday’s game for us,” Bowen said.
The final game was dominated by the Rangers, as they scored nine runs in the first inning, with five runs off home runs by Holdren, Orrock and Hayden Priest. Priest and Holdren each had two RBIs off those hits.
The Rangers scored seven more runs, with two more solo home runs by Gavin Mendoza and Yugo Hamakawa in the fifth and sixth, respectively, with a 16-5 victory.
“Our offense really went on Saturday, scoring nine runs in the first inning,” Bowen said. “It was a big boost. It allowed our pitchers to go out and pitch well.”
Following the series, the Rangers travelled to Goodwell on Tuesday to take on the Oklahoma Panhandle State Aggies.
Despite the 40 mph wind, the Rangers started off strong, as they scored six runs over the course of the second, third and fourth innings.
The Aggies could not climb back into the game, as the Rangers secured an 8-3 win.
With this win, the Rangers have a three-game winning streak, which gives them another winning streak in March.
The Rangers have a home series against Southern Nazarene Friday at 6 p.m., with a double header Saturday at 1 and 4 p.m.