The McLennan Highlanders swept the Ranger Rangers on the road this afternoon.
It took a pair of extra innings for the Highlanders to defeat the Rangers in game one 3-1. Logan Henderson picked up the win on the mound and Landry Wideman got the save.
Garrett Martin's solo home run for the Highlanders in the top of the first began the scoring. Cisco tied the game with a Jose Gutierrez home run in the bottom of the sixth. McLennan sealed the win with two runs in the top of the ninth as Blake Jackson doubled and scored on Chase Brown's home run.
The Highlanders defeated the Rangers 7-5 in eight innings of the nightcap with Jack Hattrup getting the win on the mound.
Ranger got the scoring rolling with a run in the bottom of the first as Seth McAlister singled, stole second, moved to third on a fielder's choice and scored on a sacrifice fly by Alexander Olivo.
McLennan tied the game with a run in the second as Jaylen Williams walked moved around to third on a fielder's choice by Ben Rosengard and scored on a fielder's choice by Mason Greer.
The Highlanders took the lead with a run in the top of the third as Alex Lopez walked, and scored on a double by Blake Jackson.
McLennan added three runs in the fifth. Dominic Tamez led off with a solo home run. Jackson then doubled and scored on Williams' home run.
Ranger scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth as Olivo singled and scored on an Austin Hale home run.
The Rangers added two runs in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game. Ciaran Palmer was hit by the pitch and Olivo singled. Hale followed with a fielder's choice to score Palmer and Olivo scored on a sacrifice fly by Landon Roque.
McLennan sealed the win with two runs in the top of the eighth as Miguel Santos singled and scored on another Martin home run.
The two teams will complete the conference series with a noon doubleheader Saturday at Bosque River Ballpark.
Notes from Coach Mitch Thompson:
"Overall I'm very proud of the two wins. I think for the most part we played really good defense today and we got really good pitching. Logan Henderson was unbelievable in game one I thought it was truly possible for him to throw a perfect game. He gave up one wind-blown home run and one single in the about the sixth or seventh inning. It was just phenomenal. I'm really proud of his effort. Landry Wideman came in and closed out the game strong in extra innings for us to get the win. In game two, Riggs Threadgill battled on the mound, and Gray Harrison and Jack Hattrup were good to finish it off. I'm really proud of Chase Brown stepping up and getting that pinch-hit game-winning home run in game one. Then, Garrett Martin coming through with the big two-run blast in extra innings in game two. Offensively we did just enough to get it done but I'm very proud of those guys coming through at big-time moments and succeeding. Overall, we pitched the ball extremely well, played good defense and got just enough offense to come out with the two Ws. Any time you can win both games of a doubleheader on the road, you gotta be proud. You gotta feel good. To win two close, hard-fought ball games in extra innings is a good way to go. We will do our best to get ready to go on Saturday. We need a good crowd out at Bosque River Ballpark and hope that we have some great weather and a nice home-field advantage.
McLennan 3, Ranger 1
McLennan 100 000 002 – 3 9 0
Ranger 000 001 000 – 1 2 1
Logan Henderson, Landry Wideman (9) and Dominic Tamez. Calin Knight, Kyle Collet (7) and Tristan Pitkin. WP: Henderson; LP: Collet; SV: Wideman. Leading hitters – McLennan: Garrett Martin (1-4, HR, RBI), Blake Jackson (2-3, 2B) and Chase Brown (1-1, HR, 2 RBI); Cisco: Jose Gutierrez (1-3, HR, RBI). Record: McLennan 14-11 (7-2).
McLennan 7, Cisco 5
McLennan 011 030 02 – 7 12 1
Ranger 100 002 20 – 5 8 0
Riggs Threadgill, Gray Harrison (6), Jack Hattrup (7) and Dominic Tamez. Gabriel Sevillano, Sungmo Yeon (2), Thomas Berry (6), Austin Bell (8) and Tristan Pitkin. WP: Hattrup; LP: Bell. Leading hitters – McLennan: Miguel Santos (2-4), Garrett Martin (1-4, HR, 2 RBI), Dominic Tamez (2-4, HR, RBI), Blake Jackson (4-4, 2 2B, 3B, RBI), Jaylen Williams (1-2, HR, 2 RBI) and Ben Rosengard (2-4, 3B); Ranger: Alexander Olivo (2-2, RBI), Austin Hale (1-4, HR, 3 RBI) and Landon Roque (1-3, RBI). Record: McLennan 15-11 (8-2).
