By CONNOR GRAY, Assistant Editor
The Northwestern baseball team had a busy week, going 2-7 playing against two opponents from the Great American Conference and in non-conference games.
The Rangers kept working while most students left campus for spring break. They finished off their series with Southeastern, which resulted in the team being swept because the Rangers struggled on defense.
“They played really, really well,” head coach Ryan Bowen said. “We felt we were in all the games, we just didn’t play well.”
The team went on to play Panhandle State for one game and got into an offensive battle. The Rangers won, 13-10, as the bats came through for the Rangers.
The Rangers then played Henderson State, which is ranked 11th in the country, and provided a tough test for them.
The team struggled in Game One against the Reddies, losing 10-3, as pitching struggles early on continued for most of the game.
The Rangers fixed most of their issues in Game Two, in which they lost a close one, 7-6.
Players still struggled early, on but clamped down on their pitching issues after the second inning. The Rangers chipped away the lead, but they did not overcome it.
The Rangers found their groove in the last game of the series, beating the Reddies, 9-3, with solid innings in the back half of the game.
Yugo Hamakawa had four RBIs in the third game, with a three-run double in the eighth putting the team up by six.
“For our tough opponents as the standings sit in our rear-view mirror, we’ll be dealing with the middle of the pack and the bottom,” Bowen said. “They’re all in front of us for the last six weeks.”
The Rangers’ next home game will be against Ouachita Baptist. The first two games will be on a double header Friday at 3 and 6 p.m. The final game will take place Saturday at 1 p.m.
