MOORHEAD – Northwest bounced back from a pair of one-run losses at Itawamba on Wednesday with four consecutive wins on Sunday and Monday over Copiah-Lincoln and Mississippi Delta to improve to 17-8 overall and 10-4 in the MACJC.

The 17th-ranked Rangers sit in fourth place at the halfway point of the conference season and have won 11 of their last 14 games.

Led by sophomore Stephen Sexton, who was 7-for-13 at the plate with three doubles, three runs scored and five RBIs, Northwest combined for 26 runs off 43 hits over the four-game stretch.

Northwest's pitching staff continues to impress, posting a 4-0 record with a 1.31 ERA in 32 innings of work. 

Colt Smith (4-0, 0.55 ERA) scattered four hits, six strikeouts and no runs in a 6-0 Game 1 win over Co-Lin and allowed Peter Barton and Koby Busby to close out the final three innings.

Northwest out-hit the Wolfpack 14-6, led by James Clark who finished 4-for-5 at the plate.

Trailing 4-0 after one and a half innings in the finale, the Rangers scored nine unanswered runs over the second through sixth innings to run away with a 9-4 victory and sweep the doubleheader. 

Northwest out-hit Co-Lin 12-6 with three doubles and a triple.

Pitching on his former home turf at South Panola High School, Austin Towles scattered five hits, four runs (one earned) and four strikeouts in a no-decision. Ian Painter (2-1) went 2.1 innings and allowed only one hit to earn the win.

On Monday in Moorhead, Northwest rallied for a 7-4 victory in Game 1 and worked around a bases-load jam in the bottom of the seventh in Game 2 to hold off the Trojans 4-3 and sweep the twinbill.

Trailing 4-2 after three in the opener, Clay Casey's solo home run to left to lead off the fourth cut the lead to a single run.

A three-run seventh inning gave Northwest its first lead of the day, using a two-run double by LeeMarcus Boyd and RBI-double by Dalton Dulin to take a 6-4 lead. Sexton's RBI-single in the eighth pushed the final margin to 7-4.

After a rough start for Jonathan Lindsey, who lasted just 2.1 innings, Hunter Lacefield, Grant Black and Colin Liles picked him up over the final 6.2 innings and allowed no runs off three hits with six strikeouts. Black (1-1) got the win while Liles earned his first save of the year.

Casey, Sexton and Jamell Newson combined to go 8-for-12 with six runs scored and three RBIs. 

LeeMarcus Boyd went 3-for-4 in the leadoff position to help lift Northwest to a 4-3 win in Game 2 against Delta, but not before some late inning drama. 

After Northwest manufactured a run in the first inning, Delta rallied to tie the game at 1-1 in the fifth.

Hunter Wilson's one-out double in the seventh put the go-ahead run on and he would come around to score off back-to-back wild pitches. Dulin then walked and stole second and third before Clark's sac fly scored him. The Rangers added a third and final run on Luke Latham's RBI-single through the right side, scoring Casey.

Busby entered looking for his fourth save of the year, but ran into some trouble early and loaded the bases with one out. A fielder's choice from Matt Ray and bases-loaded walk to Will Costinett made it a 4-3 game. Barton then came on in relief with runners at second and third with two outs, throwing one pitch and forcing Ty Dean to fly out to center to seal the win.

Northwest will host Southwest Mississippi on (Good) Friday, April 3 at 2 p.m.