by Athletic Communications
The Rangers looked to steal the series victory on the road in Magnolia after splitting the doubleheader on Saturday. The rubber match was set for Sunday afternoon. Muleriders would rally behind eight homeruns throughout the game to take control. Those homeruns would create multiple big run innings which included two four-run innings and a nine-run inning to break the game open. The Muleriders would defeat the Rangers 19-7 in seven innings.
The Red-and-Black finished the game with seven hits on the day. Marques Paige led the team with three hits, two runs, five runs batted in, from two homeruns. Jake Darrow had one hit and two runs scored. Daschal Johnson finished the game with one hit and two RBI. Tyler Garcia and Brock Randels had the final two hits of the afternoon.
Blake Hoffman got the start for the Rangers. He lasted three innings allowing seven runs on six hits and three walks. Brody Shook came in relief in the fourth pitched one inning giving up 10 runs on seven hits and two walks. Beau Britton pitched one inning allowing two runs in the frame. Koby Spicer finished the game for the Rangers throwing one scoreless inning while striking out two.
The game started in the Rangers favor getting the first two runners of the game on base followed by an RBI single up the middle for Johnson giving the Rangers the early 1-0 lead. Southern Arkansas would find their way out of the inning by only allowing the one run.
The Muleriders used the momentum from the end of the first to carry over to their offense. With runners on first and third, Kobe Morris stepped up and hit a 3-run homerun to right-center field to give SAU the 3-1 advantage. He was followed by a solo homerun as the Muleriders went back-to-back giving SAU a 4-1 lead.
Both pitchers would bounce back nicely with Hoffman retiring Southern Arkansas in order in the 2nd inning.
The third inning Johnson would strike again this time with Darrow on third, Johnson would hit a line drive to right field and was robbed of a hit off of a diving catch. On the play, Darrow did take home though for Johnson’s second RBI on the day.
Muleriders once again had the answer though from the long ball. Ty Manning stepped up with a runner on first and hit a two-run homerun to left field to widen the Ranger deficit to 6-2 on the day.
Rangers would not get all of the runs back but Paige did damage by hitting a homerun to right-center giving the Rangers one back. Rangers trailed 6-3.
The Muleriders though were there for the call, as they answered back with four more runs this time coming from a Chris Lyles homer driving in three runs. Later in the inning, Brett McGee would hit a solo home run and put Southern Arkansas on top 10-3 after four innings.
After holding the Rangers scoreless in the fourth, the Muleriders would break the game open. They would rally behind a nine-run inning extending the lead to 19-3. The first run came from an RBI single. Then the bases were loaded for Martinez to step up and hit a grand slam to left field. Following a pitching change, Morris would hit his second homerun of the inning bringing their lead to 19-3.
Paige would continue his hot day at the plate as he picked up his third hit of the afternoon in the sixth with a grand slam to left field scoring Brock Randels, Colton Whitehouse, and Bryce Donovan. This would bring the game to 19-7.
Rangers tried to rally in the seventh but Southern Arkansas stopped that with back-to-back strikeouts to end the game in seven innings.
The Rangers dropped the series in Magnolia dropping two of the three games. Rangers will be back in action Tuesday against Northeastern at 2 PM. The Red-and-Black will return home for conference play for three games against Arkansas Monticello this upcoming weekend March 6-7th. Rangers are now 7-12 on the season along with 4-5 in conference play.