ALVA – Northwestern Oklahoma State's baseball team closed out their final series before conference play on Saturday afternoon with a doubleheader sweep over Truman State. The Rangers had a Game 1 victory of 5-2 followed by a 10-4 victory over the Bulldogs, in large part due to a 10-run second inning.

With the two wins the Rangers are now 7-1 on the season including winning five straight.

Game 1

Matthew Potts started Game 1 for Northwestern working around a lead-off walk to start the game after picking off the runners to escape the inning.

It was not until the second inning when the Rangers' offense struck for the first runs of the game. A two-run home run by Colby Grace scored Trevor Saire, after leading off the inning with a single. The home run bounced on top of the wall before going over. Trevor Stiles reached on an error before a Dylan Bradford RBI double pushed the Rangers lead to 3-0 through two innings of play.

The game remained 3-0 through the first three innings, but then the Bulldogs' offense struck for the first time, using a two-out double to lead to an RBI single by Fromm that cut the Rangers' lead to 3-1. Potts kept the scoring there and the Rangers in front.

Each team went down in order in the fifth before Truman struck again in the sixth. A leadoff single came around to score on an RBI single by Fromm, and the Ranger lead was 3-2. Max McClain came in for the Rangers and worked around the base runners, shutting the door down with a ground out.

In the seventh inning, the Rangers got their first of two insurance runs as two straight singles by Jacob Wiltshire and Dylan Bradford led to a Carson Wright RBI single for three straight hits and a 4-2 Ranger lead. The Rangers got one more in the eighth inning after a Colby Grace single and a stolen base put him in position to score on a Truman State error, giving the Rangers a 5-2 lead.

Jacob Shaw closed the door down in the ninth with a perfect inning striking out one batter as he earned his first save of the season and picked up the series victory for the Rangers.

Game 2

The opening inning of the game the Rangers allowed one base runner on a single back up the middle, but Zach Vetal would later throw the runner out trying to steal. After a scoreless first the Rangers did all their damage in the second inning.

It started with a Colby Grace walk and a stolen base before a Brady Bejarano single set up runners on the corners leading to a two-RBI single by Zach Vetal to take a 2-0 lead over the Bulldogs. The Rangers then scored two more runs on a passed ball and wild pitch as Vetal and Wiltshire crossed the plate.

The Rangers were not done, though, as with the 4-0 lead later had two runners on leading to a Paul Sachen two-RBI single scoring Wright and Bradford for a 6-0 lead. Trevor Saire later doubled and came around to score for an 8-0 lead. Dylan Bradford drove in the final two runs of the inning to push across 10 runs in the second inning for a 10-0 lead over the visitors.

Truman State was able to grab two back in the third inning after taking advantage of a couple of walks and passed balls to give the Bulldogs their first two runs of the game.

The Rangers continued to lead 10-2 into the sixth inning before Truman State hit an RBI single for their third run of the game leading to a sacrifice fly as the Ranger lead was cut to six.

Northwestern led the whole way closing out the 10-4 victory, as Jacob Fuller went the first four innings allowing one earned run picking up the victory and was followed by Brandon Smith and Zac McEachern to close out the sweep.

Desiree Morehead

Northwestern's Jacob Shaw (4) pitches during the end of the first game Saturday against Truman State.

The Rangers continue their home stand on Feb. 16th against Ouachita Baptist for a three game series to start conference play.