NW Oklahoma News

Northwestern Oklahoma State baseball won their third straight game Friday afternoon behind a 7-5 victory over the Bearcats. The Rangers used a five run fifth inning to take control of the game regaining the lead and never losing it again. 

The win improves the Rangers to an even 3-3 record while making the Bearcats fall to 1-5 this season.

Brayden Koenig led the offense with 2-RBI afternoon along with two hits which was tied for the team high along with Joseph Frisby, Colby Grace, and Trevor Saire. Koenig had a team high two runs scored as well in the win.

Dylan Collins earned his first win of the season after throwing 5.1 innings of work striking out five batters in the win. He was relieved by Cade Phelps, Max McClain, and Connor Gibson, closing out the victory. In total the Rangers struck out seven in the game. 

Dylan Collins started his second game of the season in game two of the series as he worked around a one out walk to retire the Bobcats in the first with no damage done. In the second inning Collins worked around a leadoff walk and a single as two flyouts and a strikeout held the game at 0-0 before the Rangers jumped on the board in the second. 

Northwestern struck first in the bottom of the second inning as Priest reached on an error to keep the inning alive before a single by Koenig drove him in for a 1-0 lead. Saire followed with an RBI triple to right center off the wall extending the lead to 2-0 in the bottom of the inning. 

The Bearcats jumped right back in the game tying the score in the top of the third inning as a one out walk came around to score on a Heck double down the left field line and pushed home the first run. Morris later singled in Heck to tie the score at 2-2.

After a scoreless third inning for Northwestern the visitors scored in the top of the fourth inning on a Koski double to right field taking a 3-2 lead over the Rangers. 

Score remained the same until the bottom of the fourth inning as Koenig led off with a home run to right field tying the score at 3-3. After a single and a walk Barcello hit a sacrifice fly to regain the lead for the Rangers at 4-3. With runners on the corners Holdren then delivered with a double down the left field line scoring Kelly. Colby Grace kept the hits going with an RBI single through the right side for a 6-3 lead. Gavin Mendoza closed out the scoring with a sacrifice fly to left field as Holdren scored. 

A mix of Collins and Phelps closed out a scoreless sixth inning for the Rangers keeping a 7-3 lead. Bearcats pushed a runner into scoring position but Phelps was able to force a ground ball double play to escape any damage. 

The Rangers found themselves in a similar situation to the sixth inning following back to back singles the Bearcats had 1st and second nobody out. Phelps was able to work around the two base runners and keep the score at 7-3.

In the 8th the duo of McClain and Phelps threw a scoreless 8th inning after working around a second and third situation for the third straight inning Northwest Missouri had a runner in scoring position. 

The Bearcats offense struck in the ninth though, scoring two runs off a wild pitch and a double down the left field line. Gibson then closed out the game, helping Northwestern the victory on Friday.

Original source can be found here