SENATOBIA – Northwest and Holmes split a doubleheader on Monday evening to close out the regular season, with the Rangers rallying for a 10-8 victory in the opener and the Bulldogs scoring five runs in the seventh to pull away for a 10-4 win in the nightcap.
Northwest closed the regular season 28-13 overall and 19-9 in the MACJC, clinching the No. 3 seed in this weekend's state playoffs. Holmes' season came to a close at 22-20 overall (13-15 MACJC).
The teams exchanged five leads in the opening game of the afternoon before a four-run bottom of the eighth allowed Northwest to rally from a two-run deficit and clinch home-field advantage in the playoffs.
Trailing 8-6, Northwest sent 10 batters to the plate in the eighth and scored all four runs off no hits. After three consecutive walks to start the inning,
Dalton Dulin's sac fly pulled the Rangers within a run before
LeeMarcus Boyd scored off a wild pitch to tie it.
Kody Kimbrough then drew a bases-loaded walk to take the lead, 9-8, and
Clay Casey would score off an error after reaching on an intentional walk to make it 10-8.
Colin Liles threw a career-high seven innings in a no-decision and
Koby Busby (3-0) tossed the final two, scattering four hits, a run and a pair of strikeouts to earn the win in relief.
Northwest took advantage of 10 walks issued by the Bulldogs and three errors. Both teams finished with 10 hits.
Luke Latham was 3-for-5, Casey was 2-for-3 and Dulin finished 1-for-3 with a three-run home run and four RBIs.
Holmes rode the arm of Derrick Sylve (6-3) to earn a split, with the sophomore throwing a complete-game, four-hitter. Sylve scattered seven strikeouts and walked 10 on an unprecedented 144 pitches.
The Bulldogs out-hit the Rangers 12-4 and jumped out to an early 5-0 lead after two innings, highlighted by Maverick Keffer's two-run homer.
Northwest slowly chipped away with single runs in the second, third, fourth and sixth to pull within 5-4 before a five-run seventh for the Bulldogs put the game out of reach.
Five Ranger arms saw action in the loss, with
Jonathan Lindsey tossing a solid five innings in relief of starter
Hunter Lacefield, who took the loss. Lindsey allowed two runs off six hits while striking out four.
Ian Painter,
Peter Barton and
Grant Black combined to get the final three outs.
Stuart Chick was 2-for-4 to lead Northwest at the plate.
Northwest will now turn its attention to Jones County in the opening round of the state playoffs May 1-2 in Senatobia. The best-of-3 series will get started on Friday at 5 p.m. at Jim Miles Field.
All games will offer video at
NJCAATV.com/nwccrangers and live stats at
www.sidearmstats.com/northwestms/baseball.
