SENATOBIA – Northwest and Jackson State needed extra innings in both games of a doubleheader on Tuesday at Jim Miles Field, with
Ben Van Cleve delivering a walk-off single to help the Rangers win the opener 9-8 before the Generals took the nightcap 11-10.
No. 7 Northwest moved to 3-3 on the young season, while Jackson State moved to 6-3.
Weather permitting, Northwest will host Lake Land on Saturday, Feb. 24 as part of a season-opening 12-game homestand. The games will be streamed live at
nwccrangers.com/watch.
Game 1 – Northwest 9, Jackson State 8 (8 inn.)
Sophomore transfer
Brant Blaylock had the game of his career, going 3-for-4 with a double, two home runs and five RBIs as part of a five-run rally over the final two innings in a walk-off win.
Blaylock's three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh tied the game at 7-7 to send the game into extra innings where
Hunter White doubled and scored to tie the game at 8-8 before Van Cleve's two-out single down the left field line won it.
Northwest had to come-from-behind four times before eventually pulling ahead in the eighth.
Eight different Rangers combined for 13 hits. Behind three from Blaylock,
Dakota Dailey,
Tanner Booth and Van Cleve had two hits each.
Kyle Moore scattered six hits, three runs and career-high eight strikeouts in 4.2 innings of work in a no-decision.
Reed Logsdon improved to 1-1 with one inning of relief work and three strikeouts in the eighth.
Game 2 – Jackson State 11, Northwest 10 (8 inn.)
In another back-and-forth game in the nightcap, Jackson State scored four runs in the fourth and fifth innings but needed a D.J. Wright two-out, RBI-single in the top of the eighth to help the Generals split.
An RBI-triple from Blaylock and
Will Brooks RBI-single gave the Rangers a 2-0 lead after one, but JSCC immediately tied it at 2-2 in the top of the second.
Pedro Rubio's RBI-groundout and Dailey RBI-single helped Northwest regain a 4-2 lead after two and into the fourth.
Alex DeRiggi homered to leadoff the fourth for JSCC and they'd add three more on a Sam Williams single and two-run single from Griffin Allen to pull ahead 6-4.
Northwest rallied to tie it at 6-6 in the bottom half, using three General errors plus a Blaylock RBI to score a pair.
Back-to-back-to-back one-out walks in the fifth made way for a Donnel Bailey grand slam to put the Generals back up 10-6.
Northwest cut the lead in half at 10-8 in the bottom of the sixth on a Van Cleve double and Brooks double and tied it at 10-10 in the bottom of the seventh on another Van Cleve two-run single.
Wright's two-out, RBI-single up the middle on an 0-2 count delivered the go-ahead run for JSCC and Northwest was unable to rally again in the eighth despite two men on with only one out.
Zack Gresham (1-1) was credited with the win in relief, while Derick Junker picked up his first save of the year with back-to-back strikeouts looking.
Harrison Sandridge got the start and was touched up for four runs on six hits in 3.1 innings of work.
Reed Harding (0-1) took the loss in 1.1 relief innings.
Northwest was out-hit 14-11, with Blaylock, Van Cleve, Brooks and Booth credited with two hits apiece.
