SENATOBIA – A career-high nine strikeouts for sophomore transfer
Carson Stinnett in the opener, followed by
Kelton Hall's pinch-hit walk-off single in the nightcap, helped Northwest sweep Southwest Tennessee by 9-1 and 7-6 finals Wednesday night at Jim Miles Field.
Northwest remained unbeaten on the year at 4-0 while the Saluqis fell to 1-4.
GAME 1 – Northwest 9, SW Tennessee 1
On the same day his brother, Parker, was named the NJCAA National Pitcher of the Week, Carson shined in his Ranger debut allowing only one run on two hits with nine punch outs to lift Northwest to a big win in the opener.
Scoreless through two innings, back-to-back walks and an infield error helped the Rangers rally for a four-spot in the third. Hall singled up the middle to plate the second run, while
Hammer Franks' sac fly capped the scoring for a 4-0 lead.
Kendall Franklin's leadoff homer in the fourth was the lone blemish for Stinnett.
Northwest scored five more over the next three frames to put the game out of reach, with
Brayland Skinner and
Ben Van Cleve adding RBIs.
Skinner would come on to close things out with two hitless and scoreless frames.
Five Saluqi errors led to five unearned runs for the Rangers.
GAME 2 – Northwest 7, SW Tennessee 6
Tied after six innings in the nightcap, back-to-back hit-by-pitches helped setup Hall's pinch-hit, walk-off single in the seventh to close out a sweep.
Trailing 2-0 after the top half of the first, Northwest responded with five in the bottom half.
Three straight walks to start the frame led to Van Cleve's two-run single,
Clark Stovall's RBI-single and two-out, two-run double from
Tanner Booth.
The Saluqis would close the gap to 5-4 in the third, using Darrius Bomer's leadoff triple and RBI's from Franklin and Hudson Perritt.
The teams exchanged runs in the fifth on a wild pitch and
Peyton Mills' solo home run before Southwest knotted the game at 6-6 after six innings.
Out-hit 11-7 in game two, back-to-back singles from Mills and Hall provided the game-winning run in the seventh.
Jackson Smith earned the win in two relief innings, allowing one run on two hits with four strikeouts.
Northwest will close out a six-game home stand on Sunday, welcoming Rend Lake to Jim Miles Field.
