ALVA, Okla. – Harding baseball took advantage of three Northwestern Oklahoma State errors to score three runs in the second inning and got an outstanding pitching effort from senior Lucas Waddell to defeat the Rangers 5-2 in Great American Conference action at Myers Stadium.

With the game three victory, Harding won the series two-to-one for its first road GAC series victory of the season.

Harding (18-12, 10-8) remained in sixth place in the GAC standings, one-half game ahead of Arkansas-Monticello, who sits at 11-10 after splitting a doubleheader at East Central. The top six teams in the conference standings advance to the GAC Tournament in Enid, Okla., in May.

Northwestern Oklahoma (17-16, 6-12) is a provisional member of the GAC and is not eligible for the GAC Tournament.

Harding junior Jeremy Bohnett led off the second with a single to left. Junior Erin McCarver followed with a single to right that got past right fielder Jonathan Freemyer allowing Bohnett to score and McCarver to move all the way to third. Junior Victor Guerra walked, and sophomore Kyler Offenbacker made it 2-0 with an RBI fielder's choice that scored McCarver.  An error on the play by Northwestern catcher George Mendoza allowed Guerra to move around to third.

Senior Gabe Fyock scored Guerra on a ground ball to Northwestern third baseman Colten Dickerman, who made the third error of the inning for the Rangers. Harding led 3-0.

Waddell, a native of Ladner, British Columbia, allowed consecutive extra base hits to Jarad Moore and Daniel Belanos to lead off the fourth. Moore scored the only earned run of the game off Waddell, and Belanos came around to score an unearned run.

Waddell (3-2) did not allow another run to score and pitched his third career nine-inning complete game. He allowed only six hits and struck out four. The win was the 24th of Waddell's career, extending his school record.

Harding made it 4-2 in the seventh on a two-out solo home run by Billy Ninemire, his second of the season and third in his career. Offenbacker closed out the scoring with a sacrifice fly in the eighth that scored McCarver.

Ninemire, Bohnett, McCarver and Matt Calhoun had two hits each for Harding, who had nine hits as a team.

Harding will meet Arkansas-Monticello on the road on Tuesday in a non-conference game beginning at 2 p.m.