Baseball | 3/7/2018 11:33:00 AM

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Alva, Okla.—The Aggies traveled to Alva, Oklahoma this weekend for a mid-week matchup against Northwestern Oklahoma State. The Aggies took home a game one victory (4-2) but left the Rangers with a win on a hard-fought game two (3-1).

Both teams came prepared for double header and remained stalwart on both sides of the baseball, resulting in the Aggies and the Rangers battling through a scoreless first two innings. In the top of the third, with two outs, junior Derek Stallworth barreled a single up the middle to get a runner on the bag for the Aggies. Senior Nate Kelly stepped to the plate and stepped up, hitting his sixth triple of the season to bring in Stallworth and put the Aggies up by a run.

Freshman pitcher freshman Colby Fuller kept his station at the mound and the Rangers would remain silent in the bottom of the inning. Junior Kasey Leatherwood started off the top of the fourth with a well-placed single off his first pitch. Sophomore Gerson Padilla reached first on an error which would also advance Leatherwood to third base. An RBI double through the left side from Jake Bowman scored Leatherwood and moved Padilla to third. Juan Sanchez laid down a sac bunt to score Padilla to bring the score up 3-0 in favor of the Aggies. The Rangers plated one run in the bottom of the fourth and OPSU brought in sophomore Charlie Marini to relieve Fuller on the mound. The Aggies continued the action in the top of the fifth off an RBI single from junior Jared Mayeda, but the Rangers would answer in the bottom of the inning, plating one run and bringing the score 4-2, Aggies. The sixth and seventh innings were tense, with each team leaving 3 on base in their respective innings, but good defense on both sides left both innings scoreless and the final tally 4-2. The Aggies took home the game one victory, with Colby Fuller leaving with the win and Adrian Lopez, who closed out the seventh, with the save.

The teams took to the field for game two under the lights in Alva. The Rangers plated one run in the bottom of the first on a sac fly-out, and another off an RBI single down the right field line in the bottom of the first to bring Northwestern up 2-0. In the top of the third, a base on balls got Sanchez on, and advanced into scoring position off a groundout from Ruiz. Freshman Jaylon Burnett stepped in to pinch hit and made the most of his opportunity, singling up the middle and bringing Sanchez home to get the Aggies on the board. The Rangers tacked on another run in the bottom of the third, bringing the score 3-1, where it would remain for the length of the game in a battle of the pitchers. Senior Josh Casillas would take the loss for the Aggies, allowing four hits on his four innings pitched and Ryan Marcoccia took home the win for the Rangers.

The Aggies are now 9-14 on the season and 4-5 in conference games and will take to the road again this weekend for a SAC three-game contest in Bethany, Okla to face Southwestern Christian Eagles on March 9-10. The Aggies will make a quick turnaround and play a midweek double header against Sterling College at home on March 14, with game one beginning at 12 p.m. on Aggie Field.