ELLISVILLE – The #16 Northwest Mississippi Community College baseball team (34-20) saw one inning get away from them in the fifth on the way to dropping their opener in a 13-5 run-ruled game in seven innings, to kick off a best-of-three series against #8 Jones College (39-16) on Wednesday night at Community Bank Stadium.
The game was very back and forth early on, with Northwest in an early hole after Jones took advantage of a leadoff single, pairing it with a two-out single and some aggressive baserunning to force Northwest into a throwing error and bring home the opening run of the game.
Both teams failed to score in the second inning, but Northwest did get some momentum going their way with a pair of two-out baserunners, and they jumped back on that momentum in the top of the third when Mason Gillentine got them on the board with a blast to left field to tie the game at one.
Northwest got out of a tough situation in the bottom of the third inning to keep that momentum on their side, stranding a Bobcat at third with just one out.
After a scoreless fourth inning, the Rangers came out and were able to load the bases after a leadoff double by Preston Johnson was followed by a one-out walk to John Whit Snopek and Gillentine being hit by a pitch. That set up Hallas Lawson for an RBI ground out that saw him reach first on an error by the shortstop, and two batters later, Mason McMillin would single to center field to plate another two runs as Northwest put themselves in charge with a 4-1 advantage.
As is the case many times, the best time to answer is right after the initial blow, and Jones did just that in the bottom of the fifth. Doty would give up a run and see the bases loaded before he was able to get the opening out of the inning, and a single would tie the game at four on the next batter.
That ended the day for Doty, and Connor Young would be brought in, and after getting a fielder's choice out on the runner from third trying to go home, the Bobcats would reload the bases with two outs.
Back-to-back RBI infield-singles would give the Bobcats the lead at 6-4, and the next batter would blast a home run over the left field fence to make it 10-4.
A counter punch came from the Rangers when a leadoff double by South McCoy in the top of the sixth would result in the bases being loaded, and a sacrifice fly from Gillentine would bring Northwest back to within five.
Unfortunately, another blow to the Rangers came in the bottom of the sixth when Young was chased from the game after giving up another two runs after a single and a triple led off the game, with both runners coming home to score.
Will Howell would enter the game for the Rangers, and he would take the game into the bottom of the seventh inning, where the Bobcats would get three singles from their first four batters, scoring what would be the walk-off run to give them a 13-5 win in the opening game.
Northwest was limited to just five hits but did get a pair of walks and three hit batters in the game, but stranded six of them on base. Mason Gillentine accounted for two runs and two RBIs in the game, with another two RBIs coming from McMillin.
On the mound, Doty was tagged with the loss, going 4.1 innings, giving up six runs, five of which would be earned. Young was charged with six runs, all of which were earned, and the final run went to Howell.
The Rangers will be back on the field at Community Bank Stadium on Thursday night when they take on the Bobcats in a must-win for Northwest in the best-of-three series, which will determine who will receive the automatic bid to the NJCAA Division II World Series in Enid, Oklahoma, starting on May 23rd.
Find more information on the baseball schedule, news, and updates for Northwest baseball by following along on Ranger social media accounts.
