DECATUR – Northwest closed out the 2018 regular season baseball schedule with a split at East Central on Saturday afternoon, falling 10-7 in the opener before a 12-6 bounce back win in the nightcap.
Northwest pounded out 19 hits and scored 19 runs but seven combined errors on the day led to a split.
The Rangers improved to 30-12 overall and finished 20-8 in MACJC play to clinch the No. 4 seed in the NJCAA Region 23 Playoffs May 10-11. The 20 conference wins ties the second-most in program history.
Northwest will host Gulf Coast in a best-of-3 series starting Thursday. Game 1 is set for 6:30 p.m. Game 2 is a 3 p.m. start on Friday and Game 3, if necessary, will follow 30 minutes after.
Game 1 – East Central 10, Northwest 7
Northwest rallied from an early 6-0 deficit but couldn't overcome four costly errors in falling 10-7 in the opener. Eight of the Warriors' 10 runs were unearned.
Hayden Leatherwood's first of two home runs cut the Warrior deficit to 6-2 in the fourth.
Drew Hurst entered in the fourth and kept EC off the board in the fourth and fifth to allow the Rangers to get closer.
A leadoff walk to
Tanner Leggett in the sixth helped Northwest rally for three runs to close the gap to 6-5. Leatherwood doubled to allow Leggett to score,
Hunter White added an RBI-triple and
Grant McMinn singled to close the big inning.
EC's half of the sixth started with three straight batters reaching safely on a single and two Ranger errors. They'd score four unearned runs in the frame on Alex Hay's two-run single and Jay Johnston's two-run triple to push back ahead 10-5.
Leatherwood's two-run homer to right-center cut it to 10-7 in the eighth but the Rangers would get no closer.
Both teams finished with 11 hits. Leatherwood was 3-for-4 with four RBIs to lead Northwest.
Nathan Harrison (4-3) allowed six runs (two earned) on seven hits in 2.2 innings to take the loss. Kolby Crowley (7-4) went five innings for the win.
Game 2 – Northwest 12, East Central 6
Northwest got off to a fast start with a six-run first, highlighted by
Brant Blaylock's two-run homer to left-center, and EC got no closer than four in a game two victory for the Rangers.
Leggett's RBI-single up the middle got the big inning started, followed by Blaylock's two-run blast that tied Northwest single-season home run record (17).
Jake McPhail added a two-run single and
Justin Milam plated the sixth run on an RBI-groundout.
George Farid homered to cut the deficit to 6-2 after one.
The teams exchanged two runs in the third, with White scoring on an inside-the-park home run and
Brooks Boolos picking up a single and scoring off an error.
A delayed double steal by
Tanner Booth and Blaylock plated a run to make it 9-4 Northwest after four.
The Rangers added three runs over the final two frames to make it a 12-6 final.
Blaylock was 2-for-3 with a double, home run and four RBIs and White was also 2-for-3 with a homer and sac fly.
Reed Harding (5-2) tossed the final 3.1 innings in relief of
Harrison Sandridge, scattering three hits, two runs and seven strikeouts against one walk.
