SENATOBIA – Northwest split a doubleheader with Jackson State on Wednesday at Jim Miles Field, using the arm of freshman southpaw
Harrison Sandridge and a 13-hit attack to win the opener 6-4 before falling 6-2 in the nightcap.
Northwest moved to 3-1 on the young season, while JSCC moved to 1-5 with the split.
In the opener, what would've been an inning-ending force out at second led to three unearned runs for the Rangers as they took a 3-0 lead after two frames. After the miscue,
Zack Pope and
Hunter White followed with RBI-singles.
Jack McClure's two-out single in the third stretched the Northwest lead to 4-0 after three innings.
The team's exchanged runs in the fifth and sixth innings, making it 6-3 Rangers after six. Zane Phillips' solo blast in the fifth was answered by
Jordan Volner's RBI-single and Sadler Goodwin's two-run homer in the sixth was answered by White's RBI-single.
On to close things out in the ninth,
J.G. Lipscomb allowed three straight singles to load the bases with no outs before inducing a fielder's choice, strikeout and foul out to close out his first save of the season and second of his career.
Sandridge (1-0) tossed a solid 5.2 innings of seven-hit ball, allowing two earned runs while striking out three to pick up the win in his Ranger debut.
Cody McGarrity and
Drew Hurst also threw shutout innings.
Volner was 3-for-4 to lead five Rangers with multiple hits. Phillips and Goodwin had two hits apiece for the Generals.
Goodwin was a one-man wrecking crew for Jackson State in the nightcap, with the sophomore tossing a complete game with 11 strikeouts and also going 3-for-4 at the plate with a grand slam, to lift the Generals to a 6-2 win.
Ian Hawkins scattered one run off four hits in 4.1 innings before leaving with a 2-1 lead in the fifth for Northwest.
JSCC did all its damage in the sixth, scoring five runs off four hits and three Ranger errors. An error at short and dropped pop up in foul territory should've ended the inning with no damage but instead allowed Goodwin to smash a grand slam down the line in left for the game-winning RBIs.
Northwest put two runners on and had the potential game-tying run in the on-deck circle in the seventh before back-to-back strikeouts ended the game.
Nathan Harrison (1-1) took the loss despite allowing no earned runs in an inning of work.
Justin Milam and
Trey Morrison closed it out.
Northwest will host Rend Lake at 2 p.m. on Saturday to continue a 12-game homestand to open the year.
