Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 SENATOBIA – After waiting an extra week to open its season due to inclement weather, the 14th-ranked Northwest baseball team put on a show in the twinbill opener by scoring 22 runs off 20 hits to sweep 8th-ranked North Iowa by 16-9 and 6-0 scores.

Saturday's meeting was the first-ever between the two teams and the seventh ranked opponent for Northwest in its last nine games dating back to last season. The Trojans finished fifth at last year's Division II World Series.

The opening game of the day turned into a home run derby as North Iowa (1-2) hit five over the fence and Luke Latham and Taylor King provided a pair for the Rangers. 

Northwest (2-0) chased Trojan starter Quinn Ahern after just 1.2 innings, jumping out to a 10-1 lead.

James Lear started the scoring in the first after scoring off a wild pitch and Chase Clark followed with a two-run double and Latham hit a two-run homer off the scoreboard in left-center. King capped another five-run frame in the second with a two-run, opposite field shot to right.

But the Trojans used the long ball to slowly chip away at the deficit and pulled within 11-8 in the fifth when Zach Fricke hit a three-run dinger to right, his second of the game.

After a single run in the bottom of the frame, Northwest put it away with four in the sixth for the 16-9 win.

In an old-fashioned pitcher's duel in Game 2, Jacob Gleason had eight strikeouts in four innings for North Iowa before being relieved by Vincent Berrones and sophomore Matt Ferguson threw a gem for Northwest with a two-hit shutout and career-high 10 strikeouts. 

Northwest plated single runs in the first and second, as Jay King scored off an error and T. King stole home on a perfectly executed delayed double steal attempt with he and Brennan Pugh.

The Rangers busted it wide open in the fifth with four runs and cruised to the win behind the arm of Ferguson. Latham and T. King, who each homered in Game 1, went back-to-back to put Northwest up 6-0.  

Eight different Rangers had a hit on the day, led by T. King with four and J. King, Lear and Hollenbach with three. Fourteen of Northwest's 20 hits went for extra bases. 

With a hit in G1 and a walk in G2, Clark also extended his reached base streak to 14 games. 

Northwest will return to the diamond on Tuesday, Feb. 18 at East Central. First pitch of the doubleheader (9/7) is set for 2 p.m. in Decatur. Live video and live stats will be available.