SENATOBIA – Down to its last out and facing a rare home sweep, 17th-ranked Northwest got the help of a walk to
Peyton Mills and a two-run walk-off homer from
Tanner Booth to manage the Saturday split against Copiah-Lincoln.
Northwest moved to 14-6 overall and 3-3 in the MACJC as the Wolves held steady at 10-7 and 3-3 in the conference.
GAME 1 – Copiah Lincoln 6, #17 Northwest 4
Copiah-Lincoln combined for six runs in the sixth and seventh innings to stun Northwest in Saturday's opener.
Facing two outs in the top of the sixth, Copiah-Lincoln scored four runs off a pair of two-run singles from Mark Hubbard and Landry McQueen to take a 4-3 lead on the Rangers, before following it up with a two-run homer from Ryan Zimmerman in the seventh.
Northwest opened the game with a 2-0 lead after getting an RBI-groundout from
Hayden Leatherwood and a solo home run for
Ben Van Cleve in the bottom of the first.
Kelton Hall's solo homer in the bottom of the sixth helped cut the new Co-Lin lead to 4-3, but Zimmerman's two-run shot made it 6-3 in favor of the Wolves.
Despite falling victim to a double play early in the eighth, the Rangers found some momentum with four base hits, including
Clark Stovall's RBI-single up the middle. That would be all the Rangers would get however, as Northwest stranded two and headed into the ninth down 6-4.
After
Colton Peel made quick work of the Wolves in the top of the ninth, the Rangers had one more chance with the top of the lineup due up but a pair of flyouts and a strikeout prevented Northwest from gaining any traction for a comeback.
Northwest outhit Copiah-Lincoln 10-5 despite the loss, with Leatherwood and Stovall finishing 2-for-4 with an RBI each. Hall also finished 2-for-3 with an RBI.
Parker Stinnett had a no-hitter broken up in the sixth inning and finished with five strikeouts against seven walks.
Trent Bunting (2-1) got the loss in a relief effort for Stinnett, allowing three hits and three earned runs. Peel then finished the last three innings with two strikeouts and two earned runs.
Conner Ingram (3-0) struck out six against three walks and three earned runs for Copiah-Lincoln.
Game 2 - #17 Northwest 9, Copiah-Lincoln 7
Before Booth's late-inning heroics,
Hammer Franks pitched a solid relief effort of two strikeouts in 2.1 innings to keep Northwest within striking distance late.
Copiah-Lincoln took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second off Austin Tidwell's RBI-single before Northwest responded with a four-run third inning, highlighted by Hall's three-run homer to left.
After seeing the Wolves cut the lead in half in the top of the fourth, Northwest made it a 6-2 advantage off an error at short and an RBI-single to center from Leatherwood.
Miscues would haunt the Rangers in the fifth, as Copiah-Lincoln took advantage of three passed balls, two wild pitches and one hit-by-pitch coupled with a two-run single for Justin Johnson to make it a 7-6 lead for the Wolves.
With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Mills went down on a 1-2 count before being walked to bring up Booth, who teed off on the first pitch out to left for the walk-off homer and the win.
Once again, the Rangers outhit the Wolves 10-7 in the nightcap, led by two hits apiece from Van Cleve and
Tucker Richmond.
Dalton Fowler threw 4.2 innings and struck out five against three walks, allowing six earned runs before giving way to Franks (1-0).
Adie Goodman got the loss in relief for Copiah-Lincoln, surrendering a pair of earned runs in 2.2 innings of action.
Northwest will face East Mississippi on Wednesday, March 27 in the Rangers' first road conference doubleheader at 3/6 p.m. from Scooba.
