Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Senatobia, Miss. - After a close one-run battle of a loss to Northwest Mississippi on Friday, the ICC baseball team (1-2) was back and ready to go, this time for a doubleheader against the same Rangers squad. 

GAME 1: NORTHWEST MISSISSIPPI 6, ICC COUGARS 3
The Rangers struck first in the opening game of the twinbill, leading 1-0 after two innings. ICC's first run of the game came on an RBI double from Beau Durbin that scored Matt Evans. Northwest Mississippi answered with a home run and a sac fly to take a 3-1 lead. 

After Kaleb Gauf drew a leadoff walk to start the top of the fifth, Matt Evans launched a home run over the left field fence, scoring Gauf and pulling ICC within 4-3. 

The Rangers set the final score on a not entirely clean play, but one supposes that a run's a run. Kaiser Quick picked off a Northwest Mississippi runner for out number two. Then two pitches later, a different Ranger runner scored on a passed ball. The at bat ultimately ended with a routine flyout. 

Evans drew a leadoff walk to start the seventh inning and make some noise, but it would be to no avail, as two groundouts and a strikeout would follow. 

Hitting:
Matt Evans | 2-run home run, 2 hits, 2 RBI, 1 walk
Beau Durbin | 1 hit, 1 RBI
Jackson Powell | 1 hit
Camden Porter | 1 hit

Pitching:
Gage Burdick | 3 innings, 5 strikeouts
Carson Johnson | 1 inning, 1 strikeout
Kaiser Quick | 2 innings, 3 strikeouts

GAME 2: ICC COUGARS 14, NORTHWEST MISSISSIPPI 2 (5 inn.)
Friday's game between the Rangers and Cougars - close (one run). Game one of the doubleheader - close (three runs). The series finale? Not close. ICC's bats came out guns blazing in the top of the first. After Zach Otten (single), Beau Durbin (single), and Jackson Powell (walk) all reached within the game's first four plate appearances, that brought up Camden Porter. After Josh Heyder had the big shot in the series opener, Porter would send a grand slam to nearly the same spot as Heyder, putting ICC up 4-0 on the hosts with two outs still to work with. 

The long ball seemed to be powering ICC to its first win of 2023, after Jackson Powell hit one to right field, scoring Durbin, who had reached on a leadoff double in the third. That put the Cougars up five, 6-1. 

While that lead may have been comfortable for both Jake Jacek and Ian McGhiey on the bump, the ICC bats would be far from done. Scoring plays from Heyder (groundout), Griffin Roesch (wild pitch), and Kaleb Gauf (three-run double) put ICC in run-rule territory, leading by a wide 11-1 margin. 

The Cougars added what would become last-inning insurance on a two-run double from Powell and RBI groundout from Porter to give the Cougars their 14 runs. The Rangers pushed one more run across in the bottom of the fifth, but ICC had already pulled too far ahead, and Brett Kelley's team came away with its first win of the 2023 season, 14-2. 

Hitting Notables:
Jackson Powell | 1 home run, 2 hits, 4 RBI, 2 walks
Zach Otten | 2 hits
Beau Durbin | 2 hits
Camden Porter | 1 home run, 1 hit, 5 RBI, 1 walk
Kaleb Gauf | 1 hit, 3 RBI
Josh Heyder | 1 hit, 1 RBI

Pitching:
Jake Jacek | 3 innings, 3 strikeouts
Ian McGhiey | 2 innings, 0 earned runs, 1 strikeout

WHAT'S NEXT FOR THE COUGARS
vs. Baton Rouge Bears (3-11)
Friday, February 24th - 3:00 PM
@ Community Bank Park - Ellisville, Mississippi
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