Alva Review-Courier -

ALVA, Okla. – The bats for Northwestern Oklahoma State University baseball woke up Friday evening as the Rangers scattered 13 hits in a 7-3 win over Henderson State at home. The two would meet again the following day to complete the series.

The Friday win improved the Rangers record to 12-9 overall and 4-8 in GAC play, while the Henderson State dropped to 9-13 and 3-8 in the league.

After struggling at the plate last weekend at Arkansas-Monticello, the Rangers were seeing the ball well with two home runs, two doubles and a triple. Both Justin Bundy and Johnnuelle Ponce went 3-for-4 at the plate with a home run each. Bundy added an RBI double as well.

Brock Randels had two hits with a double, Bryce Donovan had a triple for one of his two hits, and Luis Mendoza had a pair of singles to move his average back over .400.

Kaleb Honea made his first start of the season on the bump and pitched six innings with four strikeouts for his first win as a Ranger. Baron Phillips, Koby Spicer and Beau Britton each pitched a scoreless inning in the final three innings.

Henderson State actually struck first with a pair of runs in the top of the second inning aided by a couple of Ranger miscues. With the exception of that inning, the Northwestern defense had an excellent game, including a huge diving grab in center by Ponce.

Northwestern quickly answered in the bottom of the second to take the lead. After Ponce led the inning off with a single, Bundy unloaded on a pitch over the right field wall to tie the game at two, his seventh homer of the season. A couple of batters later, Randels delivered his double to left to plate Mendoza, who previously reached with a single, to make it 3-2.

Trey Lunn

NWOSU outfielder Dash Johnson makes a diving catch to secure the second out of the seventh inning.

The Rangers added two more runs on three straight hits in the third inning to make it 5-2. Ponce again got on base with a two-out single and was driven home on an RBI double off the top of the wall by Bundy. Donovan followed Bundy with a triple to plate the fifth run of the game.

There was an opportunity for the Reddies to cut into the difference in the top of the fifth inning, but Daschal Johnson gunned down a running at home from left field to keep another run from being put on the board.

Ponce kept pace with Bundy in the bottom of the fifth inning with his seventh home run of the season as he sent a shot out to left center. Later in the frame, Donovan singled and stole second to set up a Mendoza RBI single to right to extend the Ranger lead to 7-2.

The Reddies put across their final run of the evening in the top of the second as a leadoff single and passed ball led to their third run of the game.