After losing 9-3 and 4-1 against Jenison, the freshman baseball team defeated Northview 6-2 and 17-0; it won 17-0 in just two and a half innings and totaled an impressive 19 hits in two at-bats.

Against Jenison, the offense wasn’t able to get hot and the defense and pitching weren’t able to slow the Wildcats down enough. A bright spot for the first game, which the Rangers lost 9-3, was the great start to the first two innings. Freshman Matthew Mittlestadt started on the mound and didn’t suffer any runs in the first two innings; on the offensive side, freshman Cole Hysong hit into a fielder’s choice which scored a run in the first inning to take the lead. Besides this first inning run, the Rangers only put up another run in the fourth and fifth innings; the pitching couldn’t shut out Jenison while the defense didn’t help out a lot, committing four errors. One hitter who did have success for the Rangers was freshman Joe Robertson who went 2-2 at the plate.

In the second, lower scoring game, the Rangers again couldn’t get the bats going. The pitching was better for the Rangers giving up just four runs in the 4-1 defeat but without run support it’s hard to win no matter how good the pithing is.

The tides turned, though, a few days later against Northview, the Rangers came out smoking the ball scoring six runs in the first three innings propelling them to the 6-2 win. Leading the offense once again was Cole who went 2-3 at the plate and batted in a run. Other Rangers with hits and an RBI were freshmen Ivan Wheland, Kaeden Palmitier, and Beau Coughlin.

In the second game, the bats got hot and never cooled off; the Rangers scored 17 runs in just two at-bats and batted around in one of the innings. Leading the team in hits were freshmen Jake Munger, Parker Vredenburg, and Hunter Robinson. On the base paths, Hunter also led the team with three steals and tied with Jake for most runs scored with three.

These 19 hits were the most the Rangers have gotten in a game all year, and they came with only six batted outs. What made this more impressive, each batter who came to the plate got themselves a hit making it an all-around successful day for all the Ranger hitters.

Just like the hitting was clicking, so was the pitching. Freshmen Aden Walsh and Parker both played a part in this shutout game; Aden starting the game and went two innings, and Parker closed the game pitching the last inning and striking out the last batter.

The Rangers are now 11-8 on the year and go to Jenison on Wednesday in what may be there last games of the season. They will look to sweep Jenison and even the series a week after getting swept by the Wildcats at their home field.