ALVA, Okla. – Windy conditions prevailed throughout much of Friday night across the Oklahoma panhandle and with it brought a ton of offense on both sides. The Arkansas Tech baseball team, however, came out on the short end of the matter, losing to Northwestern Oklahoma by a score of 18-8 in seven innings.
The slugfest between the Wonder Boys (23-17, 14-13 GAC) and the Rangers (19-25, 12-16 GAC) saw 26 combined runs on 36 hits across the seven innings of action. Tech had eight of those runs and 13 of the hits while NWOSU racked up 18 runs on 23 hits.
Batting first, the Wonder Boys got on the board relatively quickly in the top of the first as
Josh Detweiler hit a sacrifice fly to score
Sam Stephenson, who led off the game with a single to right. After his single, Stephenson got to third on a double by
Trace Maddux.
Two batters following Detweiler's sac fly saw
Yadier Medina pick up a RBI on a single through the left side, scoring Maddux from second.
The Rangers answered right back and then some in the bottom of the first with a four-run inning in the bottom of the first. That lead was short-lived however as the Wonder Boys used the long ball to plate three runs in the top of the second and regain the lead a 5-4.
Carter Thessing had the first homer of the inning as he hit a solo shot to centerfield to lead off the frame. Four batters later, Detweiler hit a two-run blast to center.
The Rangers were held scoreless in the second as were the Wonder Boys in the top of the third.
In the bottom of the third, NWOSU put up another four-run inning. An inning later, the Rangers were able to score six more times to push their lead out to 14-5. Those two innings proved to be the pivotal moments in the game as the Wonder Boys were held scoreless in each top half of the big innings for the Rangers.
In the top of the fifth, the Wonder Boys got back on the board with three runs. The first two of those runs scored on a two-run home run by
Shelby Quiggins. The third run that inning was a bases loaded hit-by-pitch taken by Maddux.
Unfortunately, the Rangers matched that output with three runs of their own in the bottom of the fifth to press back up by nine runs. In the bottom of the sixth, the Rangers collected one more run to push the advantage to double-digits and put the run-rule in play.
Hoping to stave off that possibility, the Wonder Boys were held scoreless in the seventh, ending the game.
The two teams will be back at it on Saturday and close out the series with a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. Forecasted weather conditions do not call for any let up in the wind and are predicting steady south-southwest wins at 25-35 mph with occasional gusts over 50 mph.
