Alva Review-Courier -

The baseball season is set to take off, as Ranger Baseball will travel to Edmond from Jan. 31 through Sunday Feb. 2 to participate in the Edmond First Pitch Invitational. They are set to take on Missouri Southern State University (Friday) University of Central Oklahoma (Saturday) and Pittsburg State University (Sunday).

Head Coach Ryan Bowen talked about the upcoming invitational and the tough out of conference games.

"We're looking forward to playing a really good non-conference schedule. We feel like the quality of teams will challenge us and help prepare us for GAC play. We have high expectations for ourselves and we know we have several tough hurdles in front of us to reach our goals for this spring. As a competitor, you want to compete against the best. Our guys are approaching these first few weeks with a positive mindset and are just ready to go get after it."

Northwestern will be coming off a 23-26 overall record while finishing 11-21 in conference play, had them finishing 10th in the Great American Conference. They will look to improve upon that this upcoming season. The team was set for the offseason looking to improve and are now ready for the season to get underway.

"This 2020 team has a great leadership core,” Bowen said. “They've really attacked the off-season in a business-like fashion, with the attitude that we have a lot to prove. As a coaching staff, we've seen a lot more accountability within our team during player development and that is a huge credit to our veteran leaders."

The Rangers will be led by Bowen, who enters his third season in charge of the program. He has a career record of 47-51 here at Northwestern. He will be helped by Hitting Coach Luis Reyes, Pitching Coach Kasey Guinty, and assistants Nathan Weatherly, Matthew Bickford, Charlie Letourneau.

The Red and Black were slated ninth in the Great American Conference preseason poll as they look to surprise people and get to the top six to qualify for the GAC playoffs by the end of the season. Conference play will begin for the Rangers on Valentine's Day, Feb. 14, in Glass Family Field at Myers Stadium. The team will travel to Shawnee to play the first road conference game against Oklahoma Baptist.

Northwestern will be losing the Great American Conference player of the year in Johnnuelle Ponce, however the team does welcome back five positional starters back onto the team which adds good leadership. Bowen talked about the returning players this season.

"We did lose some important players to graduation, but we returned some valuable pieces as well. I feel this team really has a chip on it's shoulder. The returners aren't happy about the way we finished last season and the new players are ready to contribute. We know what we need to do to make the next step as a program and we feel we have the right players to go get it done."

The home opener for the Red and Black will be played Tuesday, Feb. 4, at 3 p.m. as the University of Central Oklahoma will come to Alva. The Rangers will have a five-game home stand after the opening invitational, which Coach Bowen is excited for fans to see this year's team.

"This Ranger team will be a little different than the team they've seen the last two years,” Bowen said. “We have some dynamic athletes that I believe will make Ranger games really exciting. We have guys that can hit for power, but we also have a ton of guys that can change the game with their speed and defense. Also, our pitching staff has a nice mix of veterans and newcomers that will give opponents different looks. It should be a fun brand of baseball to watch."