SENATOBIA – Sophomore
Jarod Wright stymied top-ranked JCJC for seven innings and picked up a career-high 10 strikeouts in an 11-1 run-rule win before the Bobcats responded with a 14-2 victory in the nightcap to split a doubleheader Friday evening at Jim Miles Field.
Northwest snapped the Bobcats' 26-game winning streak with the game one win and moved to 15-9 overall and 3-3 in conference play with the split, while JCJC moved to 23-1.
Wright allowed his lone run (unearned) in the first inning, with Fred Franklin leading off the game with a single and scoring with two outs on a passed ball.
But it was all Rangers after that.
After a scoreless first, Northwest struck for four runs in the second.
Bailey Nix's leadoff double got the big inning started and
Justin Milam,
Dakota Dailey and
David Herrington all followed with RBIs for a 4-1 Ranger lead.
Wright forced two inning-ending double plays in the third and fourth and Northwest tacked on three more runs in the fourth for a 7-1 advantage on Herrington's three-run home run to left-center.
Runs in the ensuing two frames helped setup a run-rule win in the seventh. After two quick outs,
Brooks Boolos' single to third kept the inning alive. Herrington and
Jack McClure both reached base to load the bases for
Aaron Campbell who delivered a single through the right side for the 11-1 walk-off victory.
Northwest out-hit JCJC 14-4, with Herrington leading the way with a 3-for-5 effort and five RBIs. Campbell, Nix, Milam and Dailey had two hits apiece.
Wright improved to 3-1 with the complete-game, scattering 10 strikeouts, four hits and two walks on 105 pitches. Mason Strickland (6-1) suffered his first loss after allowing seven earned runs in 3.1 innings.
JCJC responded to its first loss of the season in emphatic fashion, taking a 14-2 win in the nightcap.
Logan Robbins (6-0) scattered three hits, two runs and seven strikeouts in five innings and got all the run support he would need with a seven-run third inning for the Bobcats.
Robbins and Labove held Northwest to just three hits in the loss against 14 for the Bobcats. Shelton Wallace was 2-for-5 with a grand slam and six RBIs while Caleb Ledet was 3-for-4.
Northwest will continue a 10-game homestand on Tuesday, March 28 when they welcome Holmes to Jim Miles Field.
