SENATOBIA - The Ranger baseball team looks to further improve upon a successful 2025 season that saw them accumulate an overall record of 31-19 as they prepare to kick off the 2026 season with strong set of returners and some talented new faces on the roster.
NWCC will look to repeat their early season success from last year when they began their season with four straight wins, two over Bevill State and two over Columbia State, before losing three tightly contested match ups in a row to Lake Land College, who would end up in the finals of the NJCAA DI World Series in Grand Junction, Colorado last season.
Although it is obviously the main goal, the success of a season is not solely determined by championships. To Head Coach Mark Carson, two ways to determine if the season was successful is overall record for the season and how many players are going to go on to play at the next level.
"I always say any time you win over 30 in this league it has been a successful year," Carson said. "Last year, we also had a lot of guys develop and go on to four-year schools."
Playing in one of the toughest NJCAA conferences in the country will always be a tough test for any team. Each game is a battle. This is to be expected when two of the four teams in the final four of the NJCAA Division II World Series are from the state of Mississippi.
After being swept by two top five ranked conference foes in #4 Jones College and eventual national runner-up #2 Pearl River, Northwest picked up at least one win in each of its conference match ups.
"The state of Mississippi junior college baseball is second to none as far as the competitiveness and the balance," Carson said. "One through 15 is really good. You can go out there and get beat any day by anybody."
After the overall positive season, the Rangers' 2025 season ended earlier than the team wanted in the playoffs after a 6-0 loss to the Meridian Eagles in the NJCAA Region 23 Tournament.
"We want to make the playoffs every year, and most of the years we do," Carson said. "This year was no exception. We didn't go as deep into the playoffs as we wanted, so that was a little bit of a disappointment."
With 16 freshmen and 15 sophomores, Coach Carson looks to bring back a team of both fresh faces and experience to improve upon the previous season's record.
Pitching is arguably the most valuable thing to a team. The Rangers will return some all-important pitching experience. Sophomore right-handed pitchers Eli Deberry, Jace Robinson, Brady Stinnett, Tyler Sullivan, as well as sophomore left-handed pitcher Will Howell all return with at least 20 innings pitched.
"In this league, we are playing double headers every day, a nine inning game and a seven inning game, so that's 16 innings of baseball every day, two days a week," Coach Carson said. "You're talking about 32 innings of baseball in a week's time. Your bullpen better be pretty good."
The team has added several arms to the bullpen as well. Of the eight freshmen pitchers, six are right-handed and two are left-handed.
"The biggest thing about your bullpen is that you want people in there that are dependable and that are going to throw strikes, and I think we've got some of those pieces back there," Coach Carson said.
Northwest will look to their experienced core to lead the team throughout the season.
"That's one thing I'm really excited about. We return a lot of guys that played a lot last year and are really good people," Coach Carson said.
The returning experience can be seen at several areas in the field, with several sophomores being able to play in a variety of positions. Mason Gillentine, Hallas Lawson, and Lake Reed will return as players that can play in the infield and behind the plate as a catcher. Mason McMillin and Walker Sanders will return as leaders in the outfield, and John Whit Snopek and Corey Watkins also return with valuable experience in the infield.
"When you look at those guys and who we have there, that experience is really going to help us," Coach Carson said.
NWCC will also look to their young freshman core of talent to step in and contribute to the team both offensively and defensively. Joe Aikens will look to provide extra stability behind the plate as a catcher. Tristan Baldwyn and South McCoy will aim to use their athleticism in the outfield. Caleb Doty, Davis Miller, and Josh Pena will look to shore up the team in the infield. Hayes Hooker comes to Northwest as a player that is comfortable both behind the plate as the catcher and in the infield.
Freshmen Barrett McKenney, Preston Johnson, and Doty will look to compete for playing time right off the bat with Johnson and Doty shaping up to be exciting two-way players.
"We've got some guys in there as freshmen that I think can really help us. You just have to grow up in a hurry," Coach Carson said. "That's the biggest thing you're concerned about freshmen is trying to get them out there early in the non-conference and get their feet wet and see how quick they grow up in a really tough league."
After leading the team in hits (53), home runs (8), and being tied for second on the team with RBIs (37), the Rangers will look to McMillin to ignite the team's offense this season.
In their freshman season at Northwest, the sophomore class combined for 267 of NWCC's 369 hits and 138 of the NWCC's 275 RBIs. Continuing and growing their offensive success from last season will be a key to the success of the team.
After having the start of their season delayed a week due to the winter storm, the Rangers are chomping at the bit to get their season started.
The Rangers open their season at home against Missouri State-West Plains on Friday, February 6 at 12 p.m in double header action. The following weekend will see the Rangers take on a tough DI opponent in #21 Lake Land at home. NWCC will face two more nationally ranked opponents before they begin conference play, #2 Pearl River in a non-conference game on February 17 at 11 a.m. in Meridian and #15 Parkland on March 5 at 2 p.m. at home.
Conference play begins at home against a national semi-finalist #3 East Central on Saturday, March 14 at 2 p.m. Northwest will host two more ranked conference foes, #25 Mississippi Gulf Coast and last year's national finalist #2 Pearl River. NWCC also hosts conference opponents East Mississippi, Northeast, Hinds, and Mississippi Delta.
The Rangers will travel to conference opponents Itawamba, Meridian, Coahoma, Southwest Mississippi, Holmes, and Copiah-Lincoln.
The Rangers will wrap up the regular season when they travel to Ellisville to take on #14 Jones.
Northwest will host #21 (DI) Lake Land for their home opener at Jim Miles Field on Friday, February 13 with the game slated to start at 2 p.m. Coverage of the game can be found on Ranger TV.
To stay up to date on the NWCC baseball team, follow the Ranger social media accounts or go to nwccrangers.com.
