ARKADELPHIA, Ark. - The Ouachita Tigers' baseball game (13-28, 10-17 GAC) split a home doubleheader against the Northwestern Oklahoma State Rangers (12-27, 7-19) on Friday afternoon to win the conference series.

The Tigers lost the first game by a score of 3-5 and won the second by a score of 5-2. Jayme Lovelace was the winning pitcher in the second game and only allowed one earned run.

Ouachita opened the first game strong. The Tigers jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the first two innings, which featured a two-RBI triple from Ryan Hammer and an RBI double from Justin Weigle. The Tigers held their lead until the sixth inning, when NWOSU took a 4-3 lead. The Tigers were never able to come back and NWOSU won the game by a score of 5-3. Adam Bahloul was the starting pitcher in the first game. He pitched into the sixth inning and struck out four batters.

The second game went better for the Tigers as they controlled it for its entirety. The first inning began with an unearned run for the Tigers which gave them a 1-0 lead which they never relinquished. Kyle Alexander picked up an RBI in the third inning when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, and sixth-inning RBI from Preston Speers, JD Speed and Jakahari Howell gave the Tigers the rest of their runs. Abe Young entered the game in the ninth inning to close the game and earn his first save of the season.

Ouachita next game will be a midweek, non-conference home game against Harding. The game will begin on Tuesday, April 18 at 3 p.m.