Alva, Oklahoma - Northwestern Oklahoma State built an early lead and held off a late New Mexico Highlands rally to take a 5-3 win in the series finale on Sunday afternoon.
The Rangers opened the scoring in the first inning on an RBI single, then added two more runs in the fourth on a sacrifice fly and an RBI single to push the lead to 3–0.
Northwestern Oklahoma State added single runs in the seventh and eighth innings to stretch the advantage to 5-1.
The Cowboys got on the board in the eighth when
Rory Swanson singled and later scored on
Seth Galfano's RBI ground out.
New Mexico Highlands made things interesting in the ninth. After
Tamden Webb-Tate reached on an error and later scored,
Taiga Sato came around on another Ranger miscue.
Nico Hilger followed with an RBI single to cut the deficit to two, but the Cowboys could get no closer.
Damon McRee took the loss for Highlands, allowing three runs over four innings. Barry Miller Jr. provided 2.1 innings of relief, striking out four and allowing just one run.
At the plate, Webb-Tate,
Alex Galvan,
Rory Swanson,
Roman Basurto and
Nico Hilger each recorded a hit as the Cowboys finished with five hits in the game.
With the loss, New Mexico Highlands finished the four-game series with Northwestern Oklahoma State at 1-3 and moved to 3-5 overall on the season.
The Cowboys are in Hobbs for a three game series with University of the Southwest beginning on Friday at 12:00 pm. Â
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