FULTON - Northwest hammered out a combined 18 hits in Tuesday's twinbill at Itawamba, rallying back for a 5-4 win against the Indians in extra innings, before falling 20-11 in the finale to Northeast.
Jacob Hill went 3-for-5 at the plate to lead the Rangers in the win against ICC, while
Thomas Cheatham went 2-for-4 with three RBIs in the loss to the Tigers. Northwest ran its overall record to 10-5 with the split.
Saturday will mark the Rangers' first home doubleheader in two weeks, as Northwest will host South Arkansas from Jim Miles Field. Games are set to begin at 1/4 P.M., with broadcast coverage on
Ranger TV and live stats on
nwccrangers.com.
Game 1 - Northwest 5, Itawamba 4 (8 inn.)
Trailing 4-2 with two outs in the top of the seventh,
Eli Selby silenced the Itawamba faithful with a two-run homer to force extra innings, eventually setting the stage for a 5-4 comeback victory.
Following Selby's home run,
Brayden Sanders worked around a walk to retire the Indians in the bottom of the seventh. Then, after
Dawson Griffin's one-out double in the top of the eighth, freshman
Jacob Hill provided the go-ahead run on a single up the middle.
A walk and a hit-by-pitch challenged Sanders in the bottom of the eighth, but the Memphis signee did his job, forcing the Indians' last batter into a flyout to
James Smith, sealing the win for Northwest.
Prior to the late-inning heroics, Itawamba had taken an early 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Northwest answered back with a pair of runs in the top of the third, both coming off wild pitches, before the Indians added one off a sac fly in the bottom of the fourth.
Northwest outhit the Indians 9-5 in the victory, led by three from Hill. Selby also finished 2-for-2 with two RBIs, while also being walked twice. Gray Bane's 2-for-3 effort led Itawamba's efforts at the plate.
Sanders (1-0) was credited with the victory after closing out the final two innings, while
Brooks Rice and
Blake Loper combined for two strikeouts across the first six innings.Â
Itawamba's pitchers combined for nine strikeouts, but reliever Coleman Haltom (1-1) was given the loss, despite a five-strikeout effort.
Game 2 - Northeast 20, Northwest 11
Northeast scored a run in every inning except the second, as the Tigers plated 20 runs in the late afternoon victory against Northwest.
Northwest surrendered two runs in the top half of the first inning, but the Rangers responded with a six-run frame in the bottom of the second.
Larson Ingram's three-run double was the biggest highlight of the frame, followed by an RBI-double from Hill and a one-run single by Cheatham.
However, the Rangers' 6-2 advantage did not last long. The Tigers responded with a six-run frame of their own in the top of the third, highlighted by a two-run homer from Khi Holiday that put Northeast back ahead, 8-6.
Though Northwest would get four runs back in the bottom of the inning, Northeast once again overcame the 10-8 deficit with a run in the fourth and four more in the fifth, pulling back ahead by a 13-10 margin.
With the Rangers unable to respond in the bottom of the fifth, the Tigers kept scoring. A two-run single and a passed ball stretched the deficit to 16-10 in the sixth and even with
Hayes Davis' sac fly in the bottom of the sixth, Northeast plated four more in the top of the seventh to officially put the game out of reach.
Northwest finished with nine hits in the loss, paced by a 3-for-3 effort from Griffin and two hits from Cheatham. Meanwhile, Northeast scattered 11 hits throughout its lineup.
Mason Shropshire (0-1) was one of seven Northwest pitchers used in the contest, and the freshman was ultimately handed the loss, after an inning of relief that saw four runs given up. A combined 16 walks and 10 strikeouts were issued by the Rangers' pitching staff.
Taylor Ballard's three scoreless innings of relief was enough to earn the win for Northeast, while four different Tigers finished with two hits.
