SUMMIT –
Colt Smith and
Jarod Wright both went the distance on the hill and
Jake McPhail was 5-for-7 at the plate with three doubles as Northwest swept Southwest Mississippi by 6-1 and 5-3 finals Saturday at Bear Field.
Northwest ran its season-long winning streak to eight games, improving to 20-10 overall and 12-6 in MACJC play. Southwest fell to 17-13 and 6-8 in the conference.
(Game 1) Smith tossed a career-high nine innings, scattering five hits, one run and two strikeouts and retired 22 of the final 25 batters he faced to lift the Rangers to a 6-1 win in the opener.
Northwest tied the game at 1-1 in the third on
Hunter Wilson's RBI-single, scoring
Tanner Lloyd after a leadoff single.
The Rangers then exploded for five runs in the fifth to take their first lead, 6-1, using a go-ahead two-run single from
David Herrington, sac fly from Lloyd and two-out, two-run double from McPhail.
Smith shut the door from there, allowing only three hits the final five frames to improve to 4-1 on the year with his third career complete game.
McPhail finished with three of the Rangers' 10 hits in the game, followed by multiple hits from Wilson,
Cody Cooper and Lloyd.
(Game 2) Wright picked up right where Smith left off on the mound in the nightcap, allowing three early runs but hanging three consecutive zeroes to close out a 5-3 win and doubleheader sweep.
Tied 3-3 after five, Northwest got the go-ahead run on
Jamell Newson's two-out, RBI-single up the middle in the sixth. Newson scored two pitches later, stealing second and then scoring on consecutive errors to make it 5-3.
Wright retired the final eight Bears he faced in order for his first career complete game, scattering four hits, seven strikeouts and three walks to improve to 3-2 on the mound.
Northwest out-hit Southwest 10-4 in the nightcap and capitalized off six Bear errors.
LeeMarcus Boyd, Wilson, Newson and McPhail combined for eight hits, with Boyd extending his reached base streak to 44 games and Wilson extending his career-long hitting streak to 23 games.
Northwest will hit the road again Tuesday, April 12, traveling to Millington, Tenn., and USA Stadium for a 2 p.m. doubleheader against Dyersburg State.