ALVA, Okla. – The Rangers finished off a sweep over Southwestern Oklahoma State this past weekend behind a solid offensive output of 44 runs in those three games. Northwestern has two players from this past weekend that have been honored for a big part of the weekend sweep. Blake Hoffman is this week's Great American Conference co-offensive player of the week winner after a tremendous weekend, along with Kaleb Honea receiving the conference pitcher of the week award after a stellar performance Friday night.

Kaleb Honea

The Rangers senior came into pitch game one of the series against Southwestern, earning his fourth win of the year after pitching in relief in Friday's win. Honea would be summoned in the eighth inning, allowing a single to the first batter he would face before retiring the next 13 batters in a row.

The Queen Creek, Arizona native, would throw 4.1 scoreless innings of work, allowing just one hit while striking out six hitters tying his Rangers career high. Honea would pitch in a tie game holding the Bulldogs scoreless, helping the Rangers win in extra innings 12-11 on Friday.

Honea currently leads the nation in saves this season with ten on the year with a 1.71 ERA. The senior has stuck out 38 hitters in 31.2 innings of work for the Rangers during this 2021 season.

Blake Hoffman

The Rangers redshirt junior started in all three games playing first base throughout the weekend against the Bulldogs. Hoffman finishes the week hitting .667 (10-15) with seven runs scored, six RBI, two home runs, along with a double in three games for the Rangers.

Hoffman defensively would finish the week with 21 putouts and an assist in the field at first base all three games.

In the opening game of the series, Hoffman finished with three hits in game one, including a home run putting the Rangers in front with a score of 8-2 in the third inning. Hoffman would score three times throughout the game, helping the Rangers to the 12-11 win.

The series would continue into Saturday for the doubleheader; in game one of the doubleheader, he would finish three for four at the plate with two runs scored along with an RBI in route to a 12-2 win in seven innings. Hoffman would hit an RBI single in the sixth inning to push the Rangers in front by eight runs before the ten-run win.

In the third and final game of the series, the Colony, Texas native would finish the game with four hits in five at-bats, along with two runs scored and four RBI. The Rangers' weekend first basemen got the scoring started with a two-run home run in the second inning. As the Rangers trailed by two, Hoffman would cut the deficit to one with an RBI double in the fourth. Hoffman would hit an RBI single in the sixth inning to give the Rangers their 20th and final run of the game in the 20-14 win over Southwestern.

The Rangers utility player is now hitting a Great American Conference high .437 batting average. He has eight home runs alongside seven doubles for 15 extra-base hits on the season. He has 16 RBI on the season with 24 runs scored, SLG% of .793, also a team-high.

The Red-and-Black will close out their season this weekend with a three-game series against Southern Arkansas, with a doubleheader being played on today starting at 3:00 p.m. and one on Saturday at 2:30.