JACKSON – Behind a pitching staff that allowed just two earned runs in 15 innings of work and a pair of home runs from
Hayden Leatherwood, No. 15 Northwest opened a grueling eight-game road trip with a split versus No. 9 Hinds on Sunday afternoon at Smith-Wills Stadium.
Northwest moved to 25-7 overall and 14-4 in MACJC play while Hinds moved to 22-8 and 10-5 in the conference.
The Rangers out-hit the Eagles 16-10 on the day, led by
Ben Van Cleve's 4-for-7 outing and three hits apiece from Leatherwood and
Tucker Richmond.
Northwest will play eight of its final 10 regular season games on the road against four NJCAA Top 15 opponents.
Game 1 – Hinds 4, Northwest 3
Tied at three apiece after six innings and strong starting pitching from both sides, Pablo Lanzarote's sac fly in the seventh proved to be the winning run as the Eagles rallied for the game one win.
Northwest trailed 2-0 after an inning of play but rallied to take a 3-2 lead after single runs in the third, fourth and fifth.
Tanner Booth's RBI-single put the Rangers on the board before
Kelton Hall's home run tied it and
Hayden Leatherwood's homer in the fifth put Northwest ahead for the first time.
Connor Carter's two-out RBI-single tied the game at 3-3 after five.
Parker Stinnett pitched into the seventh and was pulled with two on and one out for
Colton Peel. The freshman allowed a single and on and 0-2 count Lanzarote's sac fly put Hinds ahead 4-3.
Northwest got the tying run to second in the eighth after a
Ben Van Cleve single and sac bunt, but he was stranded there.
Landon Tomkins got the win for Hinds in 1.2 innings of relief and Garrett Ramsey earned his first save of the year. Stinnett fell to 5-2 in 6.1 innings of work, striking out six, walking five and allowing two earned runs.
Northwest out-hit Hinds 9-6. Van Cleve, Leatherwood and
Tucker Richmond had two hits apiece.
Game 2 – Northwest 4, Hinds 0
Left-hander
Dalton Fowler was dominant over seven innnings, scattering nine strikeouts, just four hits and no runs to lift the Rangers to a split.
Van Cleve doubled to leadoff the second and scored on a pair of passed balls to make it 1-0 Rangers. He would single in the fourth and come around to score before Leatherwood's second long ball of the day and 20th of his career made it 3-0 in the fifth.
After a one-out double from Walker Burchfield in the fourth, Fowler would retire the final 10 Eagles in order, four by way of strikeout.
Tanner Leggett put the finishing touches on Hinds with a solo homer to left in the seventh.