GOODMAN – The #18 Northwest Mississippi Community College baseball team (27-14, 14-6) split a pair of road games with Holmes Community College (17-22, 9-11) on Tuesday afternoon at Charlie Donald Field, blasting their way to a 17-6 run-rule win in the opening game behind four home runs before falling in a narrow 6-4 contest in the second game with three double plays turned against them limiting their offensive opportunities to strike back.
"It's like I told our guys after the game, we didn't do enough to win," Head Coach Mark Carson said. "I don't know that we did so much wrong, we just hit a lot of balls right at people, and those things are big in conference play and today it just got us, and that's part of it."
GAME 1 - #18 NWCC 17 Holmes 6 (7 Innings)
After both teams worked through a scoreless first inning, the Rangers took an early advantage with a bang, driving back-to-back triples from South McCoy and Preston Johnson to jump in front 2-0 with John Whit Snopek driving in the second run on a sacrifice fly to stake the opening claim to the lead.
The Bulldogs added a run of their own on some small ball, with a sacrifice bunt pushing runners into scoring position, but starter Darrin Randle limited the damage to just one run after the next batter popped out and an RBI single only plated one thanks to a bullet from left fielder Mason McMillin to cut down the trail runner at the plate, keeping the game at a 2-1 score.
Northwest didn't wait long to answer back, striking for another four runs in the top of the third inning.
After getting the opening runners on base with a single from Walker Sanders and a double by McMillin, Johnson displayed his power once again by driving his fifth home run of the season over the right field fence on the first pitch he saw to make it 5-1. Snopek kept the momentum going with a single to center field and on the next pitch, Corey Watkins drove the third triple of the game for the Rangers to right field to bring home the fourth run of the inning and push the Ranger lead up to five.
Holmes wasn't out of gas as their own offense was able to garner some traction in the bottom of the inning when a walk and a hit batter put the first two runners on, and after a fielder's choice put runners on the corners, the baton was passed to Charley Dunn who cleared the bases with a three-run blast over the left field fence that brought the Bulldogs back within two at 6-4.
Another run came for Holmes on a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth in what was the last damage they would do against Randle, who finished going six innings on the way to his second win and longest outing of the season.
"It felt good," Randle said. "I just focused on throwing strikes and let the defense do the rest."
Backing him up, the Rangers would all but put the game to bed in the top of the fifth.
It all opened when McCoy blasted his eleventh home run of the season to left field to lead off the inning and push the lead back to 7-5. The Rangers loaded the bases with the next three batters walking and Mason Gillentine singled to plate a second run in the frame.
After a strikeout, Walker Sanders picked up a base-on-balls to bring home a run, and McMillin would strike for a second time in the game with an RBI single to score two more and make it 10-5.
Barrett McKenney was hit by a pitch as the Rangers loaded the bases again for McCoy's second at bat of the inning and the result was the same as his first. The freshman drove a grand slam to right field that broke the game open and gave Northwest a 14-5 advantage in his first career slam and first career two-homer game.
With the score at 15-5, the Rangers had the run rule in place, but they wouldn't settle, picking up insurance runs in the sixth and seventh innings. First on their fourth home run of the game from Sanders who sent one out with one out in the sixth, and another run on a single from Gillentine to score Johnson who had reached earlier on a walk.
The Rangers went to the bullpen to finish the game, and after seeing Mac Atkins get into trouble with single and three walks, he would give way to Tyler Sullivan who closed out the game with a strike out and a line out to short as the Rangers capped off their 14th conference win 17-6 in just seven innings.
"It was a big win in the first one where we really played well and really swung it well," Carson said. "Darren stepped in and did a really nice job on the mound. He just keeps maturing and he's polishing up some things."
GAME 2 - #18 NWCC 4 Holmes 6
It was Holmes that jumped out to the early lead in the second game of the double header with Northwest, working the opening run home on a walk, a sacrifice bunt, a sac fly, and a two-out single to go up 1-0 on Caleb Doty.
Both teams worked 1-2-3 innings in the second and the Rangers seemed to recapture their momentum in the top of the third when a double by Gillentine scored a one run and a second came home on an RBI groundout by Johnson.
Trouble brewed early in the bottom of the third inning when back-to-back errors by the Rangers led to runners on first and second with none out, and a single would load the bases.
It looked like the Rangers would get out of the inning when the Bulldogs grounded into a 1-2-3 double play started by Doty, but Dunn struck for a second time in as many games, driving a double to left center and plating a pair to give Holmes the lead back at 3-2. Another double made it 4-2 and a passed ball would bring home a fifth run on a dropped third strike to make it 5-2 by the time the dust settled, with none of the four runs in the inning going as earned against Doty.
"It's not that we did anything wrong, but you could tell that we just hit a lot of balls right at guys for some really crucial double plays," Carson said. "Then we made an error or two, and a really tough call at first base that went against us and it led to four runs. Unfortunately, that's part of the game too."
Both offenses went quiet until the top of the sixth inning when the Rangers put their best scoring chance of the game together, loading the bases with two outs and bringing two home after Hayes Hooker walked in a run and Watkins worked a walk as well after a 10-pitch at-bat. A strikeout left the Rangers still down 5-4 but within striking distance of the Bulldogs.
Doty would be chased away in the bottom of the sixth inning when a one-out home run gave the Bulldogs a bit of insurance at 6-4, but Connor Young picked up the final two outs with no other damage being done to give life to Northwest.
Unfortunately, the Rangers would go in order in the top of the seventh with a fly-out and two ground-outs finishing the game for starter Warner Young who picked up the complete game victory for the Bulldogs, helping them to manage a split on the day.
UP NEXT –
The Rangers will be hitting the road for a second double header on Saturday when they travel to Wesson to battle #21 Copiah-Lincoln Community College (26-17, 11-9) who currently sit in sixth in the MACCC standings.
Games are set for 2 and 5 P.M. with streaming information available at nwccrangers.com. Northwest enters those games in a tied with #4 Jones College for third in the conference after the Bobcats split with Meridian Community College (19-20, 6-14) on Tuesday afternoon. #2 East Central Community College sits a game ahead of both at 15-5 in conference play and 38-8 overall, with #2 Pearl River Community College (37-9, 19-3 leading the way with two games over second place in the loss column.
Keep up with the Rangers on the baseball field by visiting nwccrangers.com or by following along with Northwest on social media.
