MIILLINGTIN, TN – The Northwest Mississippi Community College baseball team (11-6) saw a mixed bag of results as they wrapped up the week with a four-pack of games at the Perfect Game Invitational at USA Stadium.

The Rangers faced a pair of ranked opponents in wins over #13 South Arkansas Community College (7-10) and #24 North Central Missouri College (3-5) while being dealt losses by NJCAA DI Jefferson College (13-4) and Northwest Shoals Community College (6-7).

The Rangers ended up finishing the tournament in fifth place after going 1-2 in pool play before ending the tournament in walk off fashion with a thrilling 1-0 win over North Central in Sunday's crossover games.

Weekends like this are more proof in the fight that the Rangers have been showing all year.

"Besides the one game that got away from us early in the year with Lake Land, it feels like we've been in every game and every time you walk out there you have a chance to win," Head Coach Mark Carson said. "I said yesterday, when you lost a game to a really good team like Jefferson, sometimes someone has to just put you on your back."

GAME 1 – NWCC 1 Jefferson College 8

It was a tough day at the plate for the Rangers as they finished with three double play groundouts and just six hits in their 8-1 loss to Jefferson (NJCAA DI) on Friday afternoon to open the Perfect Game Classic.

The Vikings traded zeros in the first two innings with Northwest before scoring in the top half of the first on a RBI single from the top of the lineup in their second time through against Eli Deberry.

While the Rangers answered with an RBI double from Mason Gillentine that would plate John Whit Snopek, the Vikings would get right back to work with a two-out solo home run from Brady Vessells to regain the lead.

Two more runs came in the top of the fifth when three walks came back to haunt Deberry and chased him from the game down 4-1, giving way to Connor Young who would go the next 2.2 innings.

A two-out two-run double came in the top of the seventh inning to make it 6-1 and the final strike from Jefferson came with a two-run home run in the top of the ninth.

The Rangers saw their pitching staff finish with nine total strikeouts including six from Deberry, who gave up four runs and seven hits in his 4.1 innings. Young added two strikeouts as well with one more from Gideon Deaton.

Gillentine led the hitting effort with a pair of doubles and an RBI.

GAME 2 – NWCC 8 #13 South Arkansas 4

In a great bounce back effort, the Rangers didn't wait long to make a statement against #13 South Arkansas, getting single runs in the first three innings on the way to never trailing against the Stars.

The opening run came on an RBI groundout from McMillin to score Hallas Lawson after he singled and stole a base with one out in the inning. A second run followed on a similar play when Lake Reed picked up Preston Johnson with an RBI groundout in the second.

Northwest had their best chance to break the game open in the top of the third when they loaded the bases with no outs, but they were only able manage one run on a fielder's choice from Barrett McKenney that score Gillentine.

The Stars took advantage of an error in the bottom of the fourth to get on the board with what would be the only run of the game allowed by Tyce Powers, who finished with his fourth win of the year, going five innings and striking out nine while not allowing any earned runs on just two hits allowed.

"We had a really good game against South Ark," Carson said. "Tyce Powers gave us such a good outing throwing really good for five innings and that just gave a big boost to us. We got some big hits and beat a really good South Arkansas team this is always going to be in their regional."

He picked up more support in the top of the fifth inning when McKenney added another two RBIs to his totals with a home run to left field that scored Lawson for a 6-1 lead, and picked up another home run from Reed, his first of the year, in the top of the sixth inning.

One more RBI for McKenney, who would stack up a season best four in the game, was added in the top of the seventh when his single plated Lawson for his second run of the game for an 8-1 lead.

John Griffin Lane pitched the sixth inning for Northwest in relief and started the seventh but after having some command issues, would be replaced by South McCoy for the final four outs of the game.

South Arkansas made one final push in the bottom of the seventh, getting a three-run home run from Alex Davis to close out the scoring but the Rangers took the top spot with a 8-4 win to move to 1-1 in the tournament.

GAME 3 – NWCC 6 Northwest Shoals 14

It was a less than promising start for the Rangers in their second game on Saturday afternoon against the Patriots, falling behind in the top of the second after Tyler Sullivan gave up a pair of runs, including a lead off blast over the right field fence from Lakelon Ray.

The Rangers did answer in the bottom half with one of their own, answering with a home run from McCoy with two outs, but the Patriots again struck in the top of the second to reclaim their two-run lead.

Things looked ugly in the fourth inning for the Rangers, when five runs scored for Northwest Shoals, chasing away Sullivan who would be on the hook for the loss, and also running through Mac Atkins who faced three batters and allowed all three to reach without a hit.

Reed would be called on to get out of the jam and in his first pitching appearance of the year, he would get out with limited damage and ended up going through the top of the fifth inning as well for 1.1 innings of scoreless relief.

Northwest added five runs during his time on the mound, with two in the bottom of the fourth on a two-run home run from Caleb Doty and another three in the fifth when a two out rally was started when McCoy was walked to lead chase the Starts starter Eli Martin and the Rangers went to work on Eli Cagle, picking up RBI singles from Hooker and Evan Lightsey to make it an 8-6 game.

Both sides traded zeros in the sixth and after early walks forced a change from Deaton, who had pitched the sixth, the Patriots went on to score six runs on just three hits, taking advantage of walks and hit batsmen to send 13 to the plate with the big blow being a grand slam.

"For five or six innings we played a good ballgame, but we didn't swing it and they just beat us. We didn't play our best baseball and didn't swing the bat," Carson said.

The Rangers wouldn't answer with any runs in the bottom of the seventh and would fall to 1-2 in pool play.

"I challenged them on Saturday night after the game and said we need to come here and play .500 at a really good tournament that we had to be invited to," Head Coach Mark Carson said.

GAME 4 – NWCC 1 #24 North Central Missouri 0

There was a level of frustration for the Rangers as they worked to try and break through against North Central Missouri in their final game of the Perfect Game Invitational.

The Rangers had multiple runners on in the first three innings, including a bases loaded, none out, jam in the bottom of the second inning, but timely pitching from the Pirates led to six strikeouts in those innings and the Northwest offense just couldn't break through.

Backing them up on the mound was Doty, who did everything he needed too on the way to his best outing of the year, going five full innings while striking out four and working around five hits, not allowing a run.

"I got to come in and just pitch to help the guys out," Doty said. "It was a good game and it was tight, and Conner came in the back me up after I got out of there so it was good."

Northwest almost picked up a run for him in the bottom of the fifth to have a chance at the win, but another bases-loaded jam was snuffed out by an inning ending double play to move the game to the sixth.

Young would enter the game for the Rangers in his second appearance of the weekend, and he added to the successful streak, going two full innings and only facing seven batters.

The Ranger offense nearly picked up their first run in the bottom of the sixth when Josh Pena would walk to lead off the inning as a pinch hitter, and after a stolen base and a sacrifice bunt would be at third with only one out.

Gillentine would fly the ball to center field, and it seemed that was enough, but a strong through cut down Pena trying to score and pushed the game to the seventh inning.

With the heart of the order due up, Northwest had their best chance to take the win but after fly outs to center field from both Hayes Hooker and South McCoy, the Rangers had to rely on McMillin and boy did he deliver.

"Hats off to Mason McMillin. He's seeing it really well right now. A good player, a great person. It couldn't happen to a better person," Carson said.

The sophomore picked up his second walk off home run of the week on a deep fly to left field to cap off the weekend, bookending both sides with walk offs after hitting the walk off grand slam against Itawamba Community College to open the week.

The win went to Young for his first of the season.

Up Next –

The Rangers have another full week of baseball on tap with a trip to Moorhead on Wednesday opening the slate with games against Mississippi Delta Community College (4-8) and Meridian Community College (9-5).

A single nine inning game against #15 Parkland College (5-6) on Thursday will be followed by a double header in Camden, Arkansas against Southern Arkansas University Tech (2-13) on Saturday.

Keep up with Ranger athletics by visiting nwccrangers.com or by following along on Northwest social media accounts.