Northwestern College dropped a pair of games to ranked teams this afternoon in Ashland, Mo. The Red Raiders lost to #23 Bellevue (Neb.) 8-3 in game one and fell to #21 Central Methodist 10-5 in the nightcap. 

Head Coach Brian Wede's squad is now 2-4 on the season. 

The Red Raiders totaled six hits in their game one loss, all singles and by six different players. Mason O'Donnell went 1-for-3 with a run scored and two RBIs. Colton Harold went 1-for-4 with a run scoring single in the first inning. 

Northwestern jumped out to a 3-0 lead, scoring one run in the first and two more in the second off Bruins starter Brandon Desjardins, who gave up four hits and three runs, all unearned, in 4.1 innings. Bellevue plated two runs in the bottom of the fourth off NWC starter Alec Rickabaugh (1-1) to cut the lead down to one. Travis Tanaka hit an RBI single, scoring Riley Baasch who led off with a double. The second run was scored off a Red Raider throwing error.

Bellevue took the lead for good with its five-run fifth inning, chasing Rickabaugh. Tommy Hansen had an RBI single, Tanaka hit a two-run single and Austin Alexander smacked a two-run home run. 

Rickabaugh took the loss, giving up three earned runs and four hits in 4.1 innings. Ryan Reynolds, Andrew Mescher and Mitchell Diekevers pitched the final 1.2 innings. 

Hansen and Tanaka paced Bellevue with two hits each. Micah Savine earned the win with 1.2 scoreless innings. 

Drew Schutt went 2-for-4 with an RBI and run scored in the Red Raiders game two loss to Central Methodist. A.J. NItzschke added a solo home run and O'Donnell hit an RBI single. 

Northwestern accounted for five hits and had a 4-3 lead after scoring three runs in the top of the fourth inning off CMU starter, Kyle Fulton. The Red Raiders scored another run in the top of the fifth after an RBI single by Schut for a 5-3 advantage. Central Methodist responded with three runs in the home half of the fifth to take the lead for good and chase starter Brady Roberts after 4.1 innings. Max Martinez hit a pinch-hit, two-run double in the inning and the Eagles added four more runs in the bottom of the sixth on one hit, two walks and two hit-batsmen. 

O'Donnell (0-1) took the loss in relief, giving up one hit and two walks in 2/3 inning. Beltre Nunez earned the win for CMU, giving up one hit and one run in 1.1 innings.