The Bears were hoping to kick off conference play Saturday with a pair of wins at Northwest Mississippi. But the Rangers had other ideas, as the Bears unfortunately came up short in both contests falling 4-3 in Game 1 and 4-2 in Game 2.

"I thought that we competed hard and we really executed some of the stuff that we tried to do today," Southwest head coach Jack Edmonson said. "We talked about having the chance to win it and we had a chance to win each game, we just didn't quite get it done. It is a tough road trip against a good opponent."

In Game 1, the Bears (12-17, 0-2 MACCC) fell behind 1-0 in the first after the Rangers took advantage of a Southwest error and scored on a fielder's choice. The deficit increased the 2-0 in the third on a sacrifice fly.

Through the first five innings, the Southwest offense lacked consistency, but that changed in the sixth inning.

Walks to Marcus Jackson and Colson Thompson put two runners on. Jackson scored during the ensuing at bat on a wild pitch followed by an error, cutting the deficit in half at 2-1. Next up was Davis Knight, who brought Thompson home on a single to center, tying the game at 2.

The Rangers once again jumped back on top in the seventh on an RBI double. But the Bears battled back in the top half of the eighth when Knight hit a sacrifice fly allowing Thompson to touch home.

The tug of war continued as the Rangers added one more run in the eighth before keeping the Bears grounded in the ninth to preserve the win.

Knight led the Bears with two RBIs.

In the nightcap, it was the Bears who struck first with a two-run first inning when Reed Duthu touched home on a wild pitch followed by a fielder's choice groundout by Knight, scoring Thompson.

Southwest starter Luke Lirette got off to a strong start with five strikeouts through the first 2.1 innings pitched.

In the third, the Rangers got a runner on via an error and cut the Bear lead in half two batters later on an RBI single.

Lirette wasn't fazed one bit as he quickly regrouped and retired the next two batters in order while picking up his sixth strikeout of the contest.

A Northwest rally in the fifth inning, put Southwest behind for the first time in the contest. A sacrifice bunt RBI tied the game at 2 before an RBI triple followed by an RBI single during the ensuing at bat made it a 4-2 deficit for the Bears.

Southwest tried to answer in the sixth and seventh innings but couldn't get its offense in rhythm as the Bears fell in Game 2.

Lirette went all 6.0 innings giving up eight hits, four runs (three earned) and no walks while striking out nine. Duthu finished with two hits and a run scored.

Southwest will be on the road for its next contests as they travel to Pearl River to face the Wildcats Wednesday at 3 p.m and 6 p.m.