Rangers A lose heartbreaker

Richard Anderson photos

The Laramie Rangers A team tries to rally between innings Thursday against Douglas in the A East District Tournament at Cowboy Field. At left, Rangers catcher Kyle Alexander squares around to bunt.




By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

This one hurts.

That was the feeling in the Laramie A locker room Thursday afternoon after the Rangers dropped a heartbreaking 5-4 decision to the Douglas Cats in the first round of the American Legion A East District Tournament at Cowboy Field.

In a back and forth game, the Cats scored a run in the bottom of the seventh on three straight singles, after Laramie tied the game at 4-4 with a run in the top of the inning.

The loss drops Laramie into the loser’s bracket of this double-elimination tournament, where they will play the loser of the Cheyenne-Gillette game Friday at 10 a.m.

Laramie manager Jeremy Francom said it is also tough to lose a game, but it is especially disappointing when you lose a close game.

“It seems like it hurts that much more,” Francom said. “We were in the game; it was a great played game. Take your hats off to Douglas. They played well, hit the ball and scored runs when they needed to.”

After three scoreless innings, the Rangers got on the board with a big three-run fourth inning against Douglas starting pitcher Tim Fosmo. It was also a two-out rally after Fosmo appeared to be cruising, returning the first two Rangers before Laramie third baseman Nick Armijo walked and second baseman Tyler Mitchell reached on an error.

Then shortstop Nolan Carter came through with a big two-run double and Derek Campbell brought Carter home on a single.

Douglas answered in the bottom of the fifth as Laramie starting pitcher Barry Thomas appeared to be getting a little tired. The Cats came back with three runs, before Carter came on in relief for the final two outs to keep the game tied.

Douglas took a one-run lead in the sixth with an unearned run before the Rangers tied the game again with a clutch two-out RBI double by Mitchell in the seventh, scoring Thomas, who had singled and stole second.

Laramie’s momentum, however, was short-lived, as Douglas used consecutive singles by Fosmo, Cale Spence and Brendan Edwards to win the game.

“We were happy with the way we played. Of course, we are not happy with the outcome,” Francom said. “Our pitchers came in and threw well, they threw strikes. We jumped out to a three-run lead, they come back and scored three runs to tie it. They score one, we score one … it’s back and forth. They responded and we just didn’t respond when we needed to.”

Carter took the loss, giving up three hits and two runs (one earned) in 1 2/3 innings. Thomas pitched the first 4 1/3 innings, giving up seven hits and three runs.

“Barry was up to about 83 pitches when he started the fifth inning and we were keeping a close eye on him,” Francom said. “He came in and threw a great game. The last time we played these guys, they scored 10 and 11 runs on us. We played well defensively and didn’t have too many errors. But that’s why it is a great game.”

The Rangers finished with 11 hits in the contest, led by Campbell’s three hits and one RBI. Lance McCartney and Mitchell both had a pair of hits, with Thomas, Armijo, Carter and Kyle Alexander all having one hit in the game.

Spencer led the Cats with three hits, with Edwards adding two hits and three RBI.

“I thought it took us a while to get on that pitcher, I’m not sure why,” Francom said. “We were really excited to start the game, we were amped up. I think we were a little too amped up. After we saw him once, we settled down a little bit and took a couple of deep breaths and we started getting a lot of hits.”

The Rangers need two wins to qualify for the state tournament and will have to do it the hard way coming up through the loser’s bracket. Despite the odds, Francom said there is still hope.

“We have a great opportunity. We have another chance to play some more games and continue on our season,” Francom said. “We have to come fired up, get mad about what happened today and show up tomorrow ready to play and win two games to finish in Cheyenne next week.”

In Friday’s first game, Gillette rallied for 12 straight runs to down Rawlins 14-4. Cheyenne then edged Gillette 10-9 and Wheatland rallied past Douglas 11-7. Douglas led 5-0 before the Lobos tied the game at 5-5 in the fourth and scored six runs in the fifth.

Laramie Prep falls to Casper

It was a tough American Legion B State Tournament opener for the Laramie Rangers Prep team in Sheridan. Casper downed Laramie 6-0 on Thursday.

Laramie had just one hit in the game, a single by Taylor Boggess.

Kevin Dooley took the loss on the mound, giving up four runs (none earned) and seven hits in six innings. Abel Casas pitched one inning, giving up one hit and two runs (none earned). Laramie committed six costly errors in the game.

Casper led by just a 1-0 score until it scored three runs in the sixth inning and two more in the seventh.

Laramie plays in a loser-out game Friday at 1 p.m.

Rangers teams in tourney action

Richard Anderson photo
The Laramie Rangers A team will hope for some more celebrating at the A District tournament, which begins Thursday at Cowboy Field. The Rangers open with Douglas at 10 a.m.

By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

It’s tournament time for the Laramie Rangers -- East A District Tournament in Laramie; State B Tournament in Sheridan and Western Conference Tournament in Rock Springs.

The Rangers A team will host five other teams beginning Thursday, with four moving on to the state tournament next week in Cheyenne. Laramie’s Prep team will compete in the State B Tournament, while the AA squad will finally get back in action at the conference tournament.

The Laramie A team goes into the district tournament with an 11-20 overall record, including a 2-2 mark in their last outing on July 18-20 when they hosted the Kleppinger Klassic.

Winning two games at the tournament is their main goal right now, manager Jeremy Francom said.

“The goal at the beginning of the season is that you want to make it to the state tournament and you want to make some noise at the state tournament,” Francom said. “The kids are very, very excited to be playing at home again. There haven’t been a lot of home games this year, so to be able to host the district tournament at home has them very, very excited and ready to get going.”

Francom said another goal at the beginning of the season is to get better every day.

“If you can get one percent better every day, you are going to be at a good place,” he said. “I think we have been getting better. I think you saw a lot of that at the Kleppinger Klassic. I think we can rely on our teammates a lot more and we’re gaining confidence. At the end of the year, that’s what you want to be doing.”

Francom said the Rangers have improved immensely is the season opener against Wheatland.

“We were all over the place,” he said. “We were scared; it was the first time a lot of the guys played Legion baseball. Now we have 31 games under our belt of Legion experience. We’re just a lot more comfortable out there. We’re relaxed and ready to make plays when the ball comes to us and we’re more aggressive at the plate.”

No. 5 Laramie opens the tournament at 1 p.m. on Thursday against Douglas the No. 4 seed. Douglas won two of three games against the Rangers this season.

“Douglas is a good team; all they play is single A ball,” Francom said. “We have to be ready for them. They are a team that hit’s the ball everywhere. They spray the field. We need to be ready, to be on our toes, when the ball comes to us.”

Barry Thomas gets the start on the mound for the Rangers, who are looking to build some momentum early in the tournament.

“You want to come out with a win; it makes it a lot easier,” Francom said. “If you win two games, you go to state. Right now, we’re just focused on Douglas. We’re focused on inning number one and when that us over, we’ll focus on inning number two. It’s pitch by pitch, play by play. If we worry about what is happening right now, everything will take care of itself.”

Defending state champion Wheatland is the heavy favorite and received a first-round bye. The Lobos will play the winner of the Laramie/Douglas game at 7 p.m. Cheyenne got the other first-round bye and will play the Gillette/Rawlins winner at 4 p.m. Gillette and Rawlins open things up at 10 a.m.

Prep ready to go

The Laramie Prep team, which consists of 13- and 14-year-olds, has had to play against older teams for much of the season. That won’t change this weekend in the state tournament. Laramie opens against Casper Thursday at 10 a.m.

That makes the Rangers (13-17) the underdog, according to manager VerDon Hoopes.
“Some of the teams, I doubt they will know until they see us, how young we are,” Hoopes said. “I think they’ll be thinking that we’re going to be a 15 or 16-year-old team, too. But when we get there, they will find that out.

“We’re going in with the approach that, ‘hey, let’s just go out there and compete and see what we can do. We know that the odds are stacked against us. The reality of the thing is there are much mature kids and stronger.”

The Rangers Prep team actually began the season in March and played most of the first half of the season in the Fort Collins League against 14-year-olds. They ended up placing second in the season-ending tournament.

This tournament is a bit different for the youngsters emotionally as well.

“There’s not quite that feel that there was for the Fort Collins tournament, because we felt like we could win that one,” he said. “This one we are just going in with the idea to play the best that we can and see what happens.”

Hoopes, however, likes his situation against Casper in the first round. “I know their team is all 15-year-olds, so that is a little closer to us and a pretty good matchup for us,” he said. “We’ll see what happens.

Wheatland B team has a bye and will face the Casper/Laramie winner at 5 p.m. Sheridan has the other bye and takes in the Cheyenne/Jackson winner at 8 p.m. Cheyenne and Jackson play at 1 p.m.

Rangers AA finally in action

You can’t blame the Rangers for being a little rusty. The last time they played another opponent was on Jul7 17 when they swept the Green River Knights. Laramie was to have played Cheyenne Post 6 before being rained out twice and Rawlins last Sunday before the Generals cancelled.

This weekend’s conference tournament is for state seeding purposes. Laramie will face Rock Springs, Green River and Evanston in the two-day affair.

The Rangers, 21-22 on the season, haven’t faced Rock Springs and Evanston this season.

Plainsmen getting ready

Richard Anderson photo
New Laramie High School football coach Bob Knapton encourages his players as they stretch on Wednesday during the Plainsmen Football Camp.

By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

Bob Knapton knows he has a little catching up to do as the new head football coach for Laramie High School, as do the Plainsmen themselves.

When the Plainsmen meet for the first official practice of the 2008 season on Aug. 18, they’ll not only be caught up but likely ahead of the normal pace.

Since being named the Plainsmen coach late this spring, Knapton has been busy working with his players in various camps, including the annual University of Wyoming team camp and this week’s Plainsmen Camp at the Laramie High School practice field.

“I always like to get a camp in before you start two-a-days,” Knapton said Wednesday morning after the third of the four days of camp this week. “In Wyoming, you can’t do anything within two weeks of practice, and we’ve done that before. We like to remind the players about physicals and all the stuff they have to do before two-a-days.”

New to the job in Laramie, Knapton said he needs to get going not only for that reason, but because Wyoming high school football is starting a week later than usual this season.

“This will do us a lot of good to start early and get the offense in,” he said. “This is about the third dose of running this, and we look pretty good. A new coach, a new system, we look OK.”

Much of what the Plainsmen are working on this week in camp, and previously this summer, are things they would have had to do in the first few days of fall drills. That puts them ahead, in that regard, Knapton said.

“We just wished that we had every kid out here,” Knapton said. “We’re going to get more kids coming out. If they don’t come out and continue doing stuff, they will be behind. Unfortunately this year, you only have a week and a half to play a game, so it will be a lot quicker.”

For the most part this week, Knapton said they are concentrating on putting his base offense in and running it right. The coaches and players were sporting t-shirts that said just that on the back: “Do it right, do it light; Do it wrong, do it long.”

“Right now we new doing that, so I am pleased to see our progress and where we are at with that,” he said. “We got a lot of things in that need to be in right now. I think we’re going to be in pretty good shape when he we get going with two-a-days. We’re at a point right now where we can line up and play, and we can look pretty good, just because we have been working on the same stuff now for three weeks. We’re not in bad shape right now.”

Physically, the extra work doesn’t hurt for the Plainsmen as well.

“We’ll get them more ready so they aren’t real sore during two-a-days. We’re trying to work our way up to that,” he said.

All-in-all, Knapton is pleased with the players he has out for the team, albeit always looking for more depth.

“We have quite a few freshmen out; surprisingly a lot of them went to the UW camp. We took 45 players to the Wyoming football camp, and that was quite a few for them,” Knapton said. “I’d like dot get that beefed up to a quite of few more, but that will come the longer I am here. We’ll get more kids out.

“I think we will be in good shape; we have some real good looking athletes who did a good job last year on JV, and we have some seniors who are doing a great job for us as leaders. I think it is all coming together. I’m pleased with how many we have and what we are doing and how many we have in the weight room.”

A key in off-season workouts is getting bigger, stronger and faster, Knapton said.

“I’ve been in there every day this summer,” he said. ‘Every day we’ve averaged 30 to 35 kids in there. It will help us get through the season and help us get ready to go.”

The Plainsmen will open the season on Aug. 29 at home against Steamboat Springs, Colo.

Plainsmen football camp

Laramie Little League teams win state titles

As it turned out, the Laramie Little League 11-12 year-old All-Stars needed just one run to win another state championship.

The Laramie All-Stars got that run in the top of the sixth inning on a solo home run from Tommy Nachtigal in the 1-0 win over Green River in the title game Saturday in Torrington. Later on Saturday, the Laramie 9-10 year-old All-Stars made it a local sweep with a 4-2 win over Torrington.

After bombing away in the tournament offensively, the Laramie 11-12 All-Stars found themselves in a pitching duel in the championship game. Laramie's Daylan McWhorter and Green River's Willy Zajic both put up zeros through five innings before Nachtigal's blast broke up the scoreless game.

Robbie Harding came on in relief with one out in the bottom of the sixth to complete the three-hit shutout for Laramie.

Laramie had just three hits in the game, with Joseph Legerski and McWhorter adding singles. In the tournament, though, Laramie outscored its opponents 53-7 in five games.

Laramie will now get ready for the Northwest Regionals in San Bernardino, Calif., from Aug. 1-10.

It wasn't quite as dramatic in the 9-10 title game, but exciting nevertheless. Laramie scored a single run in the first inning, but Torrington tied the game at 1-1 in the third. The Laramie All-stars came back with two runs in the bottom of the third and never looked back. Laramie added a run in the fourth before Torrington would close the gap with a run in the fifth.

Laramie finished with eight hits in the game, led by JT Jackson with a double and three RBI, Cole Olson with two hits and an RBI, Cameron Campbell with two hits and Noah Hammontree, Pete Spriggs and Treyven Armijo with one single each.

Jerry Looney picked up the win on the mound, stopping Torrington on six hits. He walked one and struck out eight.

The Laramie 9-10 All-Stars were also 5-0 in the tournament.

Rangers Prep fall to Wheatland B

The Laramie Rangers Prep team had a tough day against the Wheatland B team on Tuesday at Cowboy Field, dropping a pair of games, 15-1 and 13-3.

The losses dropped Laramie to 13-17 on the season.

In the first game, Wheatland jumped out to a 5-0 lead after two innings and put the contest away with six runs in the third and four more in the fifth. The Lobos finished with 16 hits against three Laramie pitchers.

Dylan Watson took the loss, giving up nine hits and 11 runs (seven earned) in three innings. Casey Stangle and Hunter Wick also pitched in the game.

Laramie had just two hits in the contest -- doubles by Tyler Loose and Tyler Warren.

The second game was a little more competitive -- for a while. Laramie trailed 7-3 after three innings before the Lobos closed with six unanswered runs.

Taylor Boggess was the losing pitcher, giving up five runs in one-plus innings. Abel Casas pitched four innings, giving up five hits and five runs, with Sam Feldman and Kevin Dooley finishing up.

The Rangers had seven hits in this game (individual hitting was not available).

Laramie returns to action on Monday with a doubleheader with the same Wheatland team in Wheatland. The Rangers will then compete in the Wyoming B State Tournament on Aug. 1-2 in Sheridan.

Knights turn the tables on Rangers A

Richard Anderson photo
Laramie Rangers A second baseman Tyler Mitchell waits for the sign this weekend in the Kleppinger Klassic at Cowboy Field.

By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

Round two goes to Green River.

After the Laramie Rangers A rallied on Saturday to down the Knights in the Kleppinger Klassic, it was AA Green River’s turn to dominate, stopping the Rangers 18-7 Sunday at Cowboy Field.

Green River (3-1) finished third in the tourney, with the Rangers (2-2) in fourth place.

Sunday began much like Saturday’s game, as the Knights opened with three runs in the first inning and led 7-1 before Laramie battled back to make it a one-run game. On Saturday, Green River opened with a four-spot in the first inning in the 13-5 loss to the Rangers.

The Knights, however, never let up this time, scoring in all seven innings en route to the lop-sided win.

The Rangers (11-20) had a couple of nice pitching performances in the tournament, but everything they threw was hit by the bigger Knights on Sunday. Green River pounded out 20 hits against three Laramie pitchers.

“They are a team that if you just throw fastballs down the pipe, they are going to hit it and they are going to hit it far,” Laramie manager Jeremy Francom said. “We couldn’t spot our off-speed stuff very well today and we had to throw a lot of fastballs. It was just big hit, after big hit, after big hit. We needed a stop defensively and we couldn’t get it.”

After throwing just 44 pitches in the 10-0 win over Rawlins on Friday, Laramie starting pitcher Lance McCartney struggled on Sunday, lasting just three innings, giving up eight hits and seven runs.

The Rangers, however, battled back with five runs in the bottom of the third to cut the lead to 7-6. Barry Thomas and Zach Kersey led the way with respective two-run singles.

That was as close as the Rangers would get, as Green River responded with two runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings and five big runs in the seventh. Nolan Carter pitched three innings following McCartney and Brody Hilgenkamp pitched the seventh.

“We’re happy that we responded, but it took us too long to do it,” Francom said. “When one aspect of your game is down, you have to bring the other ones up. Today, we didn’t do that.”
Laramie finished with 11 hits in the game, but left the bases loaded twice in the first couple of innings that could have changed the complexion of the game.

Thomas led the way with two hits and three RBI, with Kersey adding two hits and two RBI. McCartney, Tyler Mitchell and Derek Campbell all had two hits each in the game, with Carter adding a double.

Despite closing the tournament with a loss, Francom said his players took some steps forward as a team.

“I think they got confidence in their teammates and they learned they can rely on their teammates to make plays,” he said. “In this game, something that we haven’t got before is someone taking charge on defense, expecting balls and making plays by communicating. That’s a positive that we can take from this.”

Laramie will now concentrate on the District Tournament July 30-Aug. 2 in Laramie.
Francom said they are going to hit it hard at practice this week.

“Practice is going to run longer, they are going to be more intense, and we’re going to put them in more game situations as we to get more mentally strong for the district tournament,” he said.

In the early fifth-place game, Torrington AA stopped Rawlins A 13-1 and Wheatland A won the tournament title with an 11-6 win over Cheyenne A.

Rangers A rally past Green River

Richard Anderson photo
Laramie's Nick Armijo pitches against Green River on Saturday in the Kleppinger Klassic. Armijo came on in relief in the first inning as Laramie downed the Knights 13-5.

By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

Nick Armijo didn’t expect to pitch much Saturday against Green River; Brody Hilgenkamp did.

As it turned out, it worked out well for both Rangers, as the Laramie A team bounced back from a tough morning loss and 4-0 deficit to beat Green River 13-5 to close the day's Kleppinger Klassic to stop Green River 13-5.

Hilgenkamp started the game on the mound for the Rangers, but hit the first three Knights he faced to get an early hook from Laramie manager Jeremy Francom.

Armijo, who barely had pitched three innings all season, came in and although he allowed a couple of hits and Green River scored four times in the first inning, shut down the Knights the rest of the way for basically the complete-game, six-inning victory.

Laramie’s bats, anemic in the 10-1 loss to Cheyenne Post 6 Hawks in the morning, broke out and got back in the game before taking it over midway.

Laramie, now 11-19 on the season, will face the same Green River team Sunday at 12:30 p.m. for third place.

Armijo, who has spent time with both A and AA teams as a catcher this season, had expected to get a couple of innings on the mound in relief in needed. He didn’t know he would be wanted in the first inning, though.

“Actually, I had no clue,” Armijo said. “Coach asked me if my arm was good and I said, ‘yeah, I probably had 50 pitches in me if you need me to close.’ When he brought me in the first inning, I was a little surprised.”

Armijo gave up two hits in the first inning, but just one hit after that, walking five and striking out four.

Francom said they were just looking to get one or two innings out of Armijo before they could figure out what to do.

“He kind of took off and he threw very well,” Francom said. “He doesn’t throw hard, but he hits his spots and he throws a lot of strikes. The defense got behind him and made the plays.”

It appeared that Armijo was getting a little tired in the fifth with a couple of walks and a hit. But he got out he got out of the jam thanks to a strikeout, throw ‘em out double play and gave up just one run, as Laramie held on to a 6-5 lead.

“They were getting pretty rowdy over there and coach called time out and he just told me to focus in. We focused in and our team got up and that just brought me in,” Armijo said.

Hilgenkamp, meanwhile, switched positions with Armijo and played well defensively at third and later at center fielder. He also chipped in with a couple of hits and scored a couple of runs.

Not only did he struggle on the mound in that first inning, but he was picked off of second base in the bottom of the frame, costing the team a run.

Yet, there was no head hanging for Hilgenkamp.

“That’s the type of player Brody is, he’s a competitor,” Francom said. “It would have been easy for him to hang his head, but he didn’t let it get to him. He couldn’t control what happened to the first three batters, but he could control what happened after that.”

Hilgenkamp credited his teammates for keeping him up.

“That’s how I got out of the rough start and everything,” Hilgenkamp said. “Nick came in and pitched a great game. He got us out that jam. As far as getting picked off, my teammates made me stay up and I had a pretty good game after that.”

Ironically, he said he felt good warming up in the bullpen before the game.

“I was locked in, but I guess it was the release point, mechanical stuff like that,” he said.

The Laramie offense, meanwhile, came back from spotting Green River four runs with three in the bottom of the first and another in the second. The Rangers took the lead in the fourth on RBI singles by Armijo and Kevin Dooley. Laramie scored three times in the fifth on a sac fly by Barry Thomas and a two-run double by Armijo, who had four hits in the game.

A little extra batting practice got Armijo going offensively against Green River.

“Me and my dad practiced and he just showed me a different way to hit and I thought I would bring it in tonight,” Armijo said. “It seemed to work.”

Laramie put the game away with four runs in the fifth on three hits, a wild pitch and two Green River errors.

The Rangers finished with 14 hits in the game. Hilgenkamp, Lance McCartney and Tyler Mitchell all had two hits, with Thomas adding a RBI double, Dooley an RBI single and Travis Scott and Kyle Alexander both collecting singles.

“We finally responded to pressure, which was real nice,” Hilgenkamp said. “Everyone was real aggressive at the plate; pretty much everybody smoked the ball. When you score 13 runs, you can’t say too much bad about that.”

In the early game, the Rangers struggled against the Hawks with just two hits. Thomas took the loss on the mound as Cheyenne put the game away with five runs in the fifth inning.

“This morning, I don’t think we were awake enough to perform at the best of our ability and Cheyenne has been our long-time rivals,” Armijo said.

Despite the eight-run win on Saturday, the Rangers aren’t looking for a cakewalk on Sunday against the Knights.

“It’s a whole new day and we have to be ready to play,” Francom said. “They (Green River) are not going to be happy about what happened, so they will be ready to play. We have to come out with the same fire and same intensity that we had from the bottom of the first inning throughout this game and just pick up where we left off, like this game never ended.”

Cheyenne and Wheatland will play for the title at 3 p.m. The other game will pit Torrington and Rawlins at 10 a.m.

In the other games on Saturday, Cheyenne edged Torrington 8-7, Wheatland blasted Rawlins 22-4 and Green River beat Rawlins 8-0.

Rangers A open Klep Klassic with win

Richard Anderson photos
At top, Laramie second baseman Tyler Mitchell makes an acrobatic play for a forceout of a Rawlins baserunner Friday night at Cowboy Field. At bottom, pitcher Lance McCartney shows the form that enabled him and the Rangers A team to stop Rawlins 10-0 in the first day of the Kleppinger Klassic.

McCartney tosses two-hit gem

By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

Lance McCartney isn’t going to pretend that he fooled the Rawlins hitters by mixing up his pitch selection.

He just rocked and fired fastball after fastball. If he got hit, fine. He didn’t and that was even better for the Laramie Rangers A team.

McCartney tossed a two-hit shutout of Rawlins Friday night to lift the Rangers to a 10-0 win to kick off the Kleppinger Klassic at Cowboy Field.

“That’s probably the best game I have ever pitched,” McCartney said. “I felt pretty good.”

McCartney didn’t walk a batter and struck out four, including the final hitter to end the game. He threw just 44 pitches, including 30 strikes. That’s basically 44 of the same pitches.

“Just one pitch, my fastball,” he said with a grin.

While the results were better than anticipated, his strategy was the same: Stick with what works.

“I very rarely throw a curve ball,” he said. “I still haven’t mastered that yet.”

He didn’t have to against the Generals.

That was fine with Laramie manager Jeremy Francom, as he said pitchers can often outsmart themselves by having too big of a pitching repertoire.

“I think a lot of times players try to do too much with their pitching; they try to throw too many different pitches and that’s what gets them in trouble,” Francom said. “Lance, tonight, was spotting his fastball very well and tonight was a testament to it. If you spot your pitches, you are going to be successful. He spotted his pitches great and that’s what we needed him to do.

After a scoreless first inning, the Rangers took advantage of several miscues by the Generals and used timely hitting for a four-run second inning. Laramie kept up the pressure and Rawlins kept up the mistakes (11 errors in the game). Laramie added one run in the third and five more in the fourth for the easy win.

“Our main goal in this game was to be aggressive at the plate and jump on them early,” Francom said. “I think it took a little bit of an adjustment to the speed of the pitcher, but after that first inning, we were able to put up four in the second and kind of continue on from there.”

Catcher Kyle Alexander led the Rangers with two hits and two RBI. Six other Laramie batters hit safely, with third baseman Nick Armijo adding a triple and two RBI, center fielder Brody Hilgenkamp and second baseman Tyler Mitchell pounding one double each. Left fielder Barry Thomas, shortstop Nolan Carter and McCartney all had one single in the game, with McCartney knocking in a run to help his own cause.

“We’ve played them before and with this a tournament, we were ready to play,” McCartney said. “We’ve been ready and we’re ready for (Saturday).”

Laramie, 10-18, returns to the diamond Saturday to face Cheyenne A at 9 a.m. and the Green River AA squad at 7 p.m.

“Tonight was great to gain this momentum; we needed this win,” Francom said. “We just need to keep the same enthusiasm that we had and the same mindset that we had today and continue that play into Saturday.”

In the other tournament games on Friday, defending A state champion Wheatland gained two wins, 9-0 over Cheyenne and 8-4 over Torrington AA. Green River also beat Torrington 7-5.

In Saturday’s other games, Cheyenne takes on Torrington at 11:30 a.m., Rawlins and Wheatland face off at 2 p.m. and Rawlins plays Green River at 4:30 p.m.

Laramie Prep splits with Rawlins

By Wyoming Sports.org

RAWLINS -- The Laramie Rangers Prep American Legion baseball team and Rawlins exchanged a pair of 10-run innings on Thursday night.

Rawlins got the best of Laramie in the first game 12-2 before the Rangers came back with a 16-6 victory in the nightcap.

With the split, the Rangers Prep squad is now 13-15 on the season.

“We are slowly learning what it takes to compete each time out at this level,” Laramie manager VerDon Hoopes said. “We were down and hurting after game one and responded well with no where to go but up. I'm proud of them for the way they came back in the second game. We have a bunch that hate to lose and want to be their best. Lately, we are very good or very bad. We need to continue to learn how to stay solid throughout innings, games and doubleheaders.”

Things were looking pretty good behind the pitching of Hunter Wick in the first game, with the score tied at 2-2 after four innings. Rawlins, however, took advantage of some Laramie mistakes and scored 10 times against three Laramie pitchers in the bottom of the fifth for the 10-run rule win.

Sam Feldman and Taylor Boggess also pitched for Laramie in the fifth inning.

“We came out flat with the exception of Hunter pitching,” Hoopes said. “He gave up one hit through four, then two hits to lead off the fifth. Sam and Taylor weren't sharp and we were not sharp behind them.

“We were solid through four and then it just got away, similar to our two previous games, where we let it get away in one inning. We hit the ball hard but at people. To their credit, Rawlins made the plays and took advantage of us with their big inning. It was a game we should have won by adding on each inning. When we didn't, they took advantage of us by letting them hang around.”

Abel Casas, Alex Jordan and Brady Olson had the three singles for the Laramie offense.
The Rangers made sure that didn’t happen in the second game by turning the tables on Rawlins with 10 runs in the first inning. Laramie also closed strong with two runs in the third, three in the fourth and one more in the fifth.

Hoopes said they had a different attitude in the second game.

“After hitting what felt like was rock bottom, we responded with six hits and 10 runs in the first,” he said. “We were sharp all through the game. Abel pitched well against a good-hitting Rawlins team. We made plays behind him and he had a couple of nice pickoff moves where we executed the rundown well. Dylan Watson made solid plays at third before closing it out in the fifth.”

Casas scattered nine hits, walking three and striking out five for the victory. Watson pitched a scoreless fifth.

Watson had a pair of doubles for Laramie and two RBI, with Boggess adding a single and triple and three RBI. Tyler Loose also had a double and three RBI, Wick a triple and two RBI, Olson a single and one run knocked in, Feldman a single and Jordan one RBI.

Laramie had no errors in the game after five miscues in the opener.

The Rangers Prepsters return to action on Tuesday with a doubleheader against the Wheatland B team, beginning at 2 p.m. at Cowboy Field.

Rangers dominate Green River

Richard Anderson photos
Laramie manager Sean McKinney, center, talks things over with pitcher Max Schoen, left, and catcher Nick Armijo Thursday night against Green River. At bottom, Sean Gardea rounds second and heads to third. Laramie swept the Knights to move to 22-23 on the season.


By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

Wednesday and Thursday were like night and day in several ways for the Laramie Rangers.

After the disappointing split against Sheridan the night before, the Rangers bounced back in a big way to sweep the Green River Knights 9-2 and 17-3 Thursday at Cowboy Field.

The Rangers stopped short in saying that they played against Green River like they probably should have in the second game against Sheridan. They didn’t have to say it … their faces and blissful manner in working on the field after the game said it all.

“We had a goal of finishing up 10-3 and now that we have lost three games, we have to win out,” Laramie catcher/third baseman Jon Sorenson said. “When we play well and work as a team, we score a lot of runs.”

Other than the early going against the Knights, the Rangers (21-22) were in total control. Green River opened the second inning with a solo home run, but Laramie bounced back with two runs in the bottom half of the inning and never trailed the rest of the day.

Laramie manager Sean McKinney said that it is funny how winning makes everything better -- especially in his world.

“I think the kids are starting to understand that, too, how important winning is and losing is not OK,” McKinney said. “I think we learned that lesson (Wednesday night) and it transitioned into today.”

Green River came into the contest with a lofty record (29-14) against mostly A teams. Although Laramie dominated the Knights for much of the day, McKinney came away with nothing but respect for the team and their manager, Willie Montoya.

“I like Willie Montoya and I like his boys,” McKinney said. “I like their kids probably as much as any team that we’ve played this year. They didn’t talk trash, they didn’t say anything and they just played the game. They just tried to play hard. That reflects on Willie.”

On the day, the Rangers finished with 24 hits, to just 13 for Green River.

“We did what we were supposed to do against Green River,” McKinney said. “The Sheridan game, we just let the first two innings go and that was it. Sheridan deserved that win Wednesday night and we look forward to seeing them again when we get to state.”

As McKinney stated earlier this week, everything starts with pitching. Laramie 15-year-old Max Schoen had his third straight impressive start, as he picked up the win, scattering six hits in six innings. Schoen has now given up just two runs in his last 20 innings.

“Max Schoen did a great job again,” McKinney said. “He’s pitched two shutouts and a two-run game. For a 15-year-old, that’s pretty special. We’re going to use him a lot. He’s going to be our No. 2 guy going into this thing. He has a good approach to the game, he plays the game hard and he wants to win.”

In the second game, Jordan Rhodine picked up his first win of the season and his first victory as a Ranger.

“It’s been a while, I guess since Junior Babe,” Rhodine said with a smile “Things haven’t been working for me and I got a good chance to do it tonight. I got the sticks behind me.”

Rhodine was 0-8 this season with a 14.00 earned run average going into the game. On Thursday, he scattered seven hits and walked just one batter in five innings.

“Not that I am going to try to give up runs, but I knew I had some backup,” Rhodine said. “I think my last game might have been a little bit better, but I think these kids were better hitters. I was just trying to keep it away from them. I ended up giving up a few hits, but my defense was behind me all day, which is what I like to see.”

Sorenson, meanwhile, enjoyed the return to metal bats this week after playing three straight weekend tournaments with wood bats. Sorenson hit a pair of home runs on Thursday, a two-run shot in the sixth inning in the first game and a solo dinger in the second inning of the second game.

“It felt good to get my swing back,” Sorenson said.

While McKinney admits he enjoys the game with wood bats, the Rangers obviously like to hit with the ping sound. In the four games this week, Laramie had 50 hits, scoring 45 runs.

“Wood slows the ball down and makes it more equal and metal helps on the ground or in the hole. Those are caught with wood, but with metal, it’s a base hit,” Sorenson said.

For the day, second baseman Rylan Harding led the way offensively, going 4-for-7 with 3 RBI and scoring four times. Coleton Wilson and Sorenson both had three hits, with Sean Gardea, Skyler Joy and Rhodine all chipping in with two hits each.

The Rangers have this weekend off and will now set their sites on Cheyenne’s Post 6 Wednesday in a single nine-inning game at Cowboy Field. Post 6, the seven-time defending state champions are 3-0 against Laramie this season, outscoring the Rangers 50-17.

The Rangers, however, feel like they are due against their long-time rival.

“I feel like we’re really prepared for them,” Sorenson said. “We’ve been playing really great teams and winning close games that we weren’t winning earlier. I think we’re ready to play them. Now, if it comes down to the last inning, we can pull it out.”

The two teams haven't faced each other since May 21.

“We’re definitely a better team and I’m sure they have gotten better since then,” McKinney said. “We’re going to go right at them. We want to beat Cheyenne and we’re going to try to do that. We’ll see how they have progressed throughout the season and they will see how we have progressed through the season.”

Rangers come up short in nightcap

Richard Anderson photos
At top, Laramie base runner Jason Rodriguez takes a lead off of second base in the first game of a non-conference doubleheader against Sheridan at Cowboy Field. At left, Rangers second baseman Rylan Harding squeezes an infield fly ball. Laramie won the first game 11-1 before Sheridan came back for a 9-8 victory in eight innings.


By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

Disappointed … naturally, a little upset … definitely.

Thus comes in the territory of domination in one game and missed opportunities in another.

The Laramie Rangers were feeling all of the above just minutes after splitting an American Legion AA doubleheader Wednesday night at Cowboy Field. The Rangers, behind starting pitcher Coleton Wilson, ran away with an 11-1 win in the first game before the Troopers came back to edge Laramie 9-8 in eight innings in the nightcap.

Sheridan jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the second game, only to see the Rangers bounce back for seven unanswered runs before the Troopers would score late for the win.

Disappointed that they lost the second game, Laramie manager Sean McKinney wasn't displeased with the way his team battled back.

“We spotted them six runs in those first three innings and you can’t do that to any team in the state because we are all pretty equal,” McKinney said. “But I tell you what, down 6-0 like we were, just like we did in Scottsbluff, we just told the kids to keep playing and don’t let things affect you. We scored six straight and it is a ballgame again. We did some good things and we did some things that weren’t so good. But we came back in a game that looked lost. We gave ourselves a chance to win, but they just came up with a couple of big hits at the end and that’s the way baseball works.”

Laramie, 19-22 overall, appeared to be inching closer to the .500 mark after Wilson overcame a slow start and won hits ninth game of the season. Giving up five hits in the first two innings, Wilson was able to escape unscathed on the scoreboard. He ended up with a seven-hitter, allowing one late unearned run.

“Coley is not going to be perfect every time he goes out there and he is not going to be quite as dominating as he sometimes is,” McKinney said. “That’s just the way pitching goes. Coley kept battling and he is an extreme competitor and he is not going to let things affect him. He just keeps going to work and he just keeps getting back on the rubber and throws strikes. That’s what we need out of him.”

Second baseman Rylan Harding and first baseman Mike Garner led the 11-hit Laramie attack with three singles each, with center fielder Jason Rodriguez adding two hits and three RBI and left fielder Ryan Ivy knocking in a pair with a triple.

Laramie starting pitcher Srihari Sritharan, however, struggled with his control to begin the second game, walking the first three batters he faced and giving up another hit. The Troopers (6-26) took advantage with three runs in the first, two more in the second and another in the third.

Garner and Harding came in and slowed down the Sheridan bats for four innings before the Troopers were able to push across a couple of late runs for the win against Skyler Joy.

“Mike Garner got us out of one jam; he put out a fire there and gave us two innings. But they got to him, which happens,” McKinney said. “Rylan threw very well at Scottsbluff and we had confidence that he would throw strikes. He came out for four innings and shut them down. He was the reason we had a chance to win.

“Skyler is doing a good job, but he hasn’t pitched a lot yet and he is working on a few things. I thought he did a fine job; he kept us in it too. But they got two big hits and we just couldn’t get a solid single when we needed one. They came away with a one-run win.”

Max Schoen paced the Rangers with three singles, while Joy had two hits for Laramie, including a triple.

The Rangers don’t have time to fret, as they host Green River Thursday in another doubleheader that begins at 4 p.m.

“I told the kids that we have to come focused and ready to play (Thursday),” McKinney said. “We’re not going to transfer blame in our program and nothing is going to affect us. We have our own little world and nothing is going to affect it. We just have to stay behind each other on a night like tonight and come out with a job to do (Thursday). We have to beat Green River. We have to do whatever we can to beat them.”

McKinney said he told the team that like any win, they have to think about this loss for a short time and let it go.

“We can get mad about this for 30 minutes and then we have to flush it and come out and get ready to go again,” he said.

Rangers rotation coming around

Richard Anderson photo

The Laramie Rangers AA starting pitching rotation of, from left, Max Schoen, Srihari Sritharan and Coleton Wilson are coming on as of late. Last weekend in the Scottsbluff, Neb., tournament, the trio combined to give up just one run in 19 innings in consecutive starts.

By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

For the Laramie Rangers, it’s becoming as easy as one, two, three.

The AA Rangers American Legion baseball team is prepping for the conference and state tournament with what is looking like a strong three-man starting pitching rotation, led by ace Coleton Wilson, along with up and coming starters Srihari Sritharan and Max Schoen.

Last weekend is what Laramie manager Sean McKinney hopes is a sign of not only the end of the season, but the future. Wilson started things off at the Scottsbluff, Neb., tournament with a three-hit shutout of Denver Mullen. On the next day, Sritharan stopped host WESTCO on four hits and one run in five innings and 15-year old Schoen blanked Chadron, Neb., with a three-hit shutout.

The trio gave up just one run on 10 hits in 19 innings of mound work.

“In baseball, pitching is everything and everything is dictated off of pitching … the pace of the game, the style of the game. All that is dictated off of the pitcher,” McKinney said. “When you have a pitcher, or a couple of guys who can throw it pretty well, throw strikes and keep up with the pace of the game, you are going to be successful.”

The Rangers, who have now won 10 of their last 14 games, including 4-1 last weekend to win the Scottsbluff tourney, host Sheridan Wednesday night in a doubleheader (5 p.m.) and Green River on Thursday in a twin bill that begins at 4 p.m.

Laramie’s recent success can be traced back to the pitching mound, paced by the three starters and a strong relief corp.

Wilson went into the season as Laramie’s ace and he hasn’t disappointed. Along with his win over Mullen, he beat the defending California state champion Merced a month ago at the Rapid City, S.D., tournament, lost a tough 1-0 game to Dothan, Ala., a team that has qualified for two Legion World Series in the last four years and stopped Torrington with a four-hit shutout.

“Coley is really starting to come on this year. He is doing what he is supposed to do,” McKinney said. “He’s starting to accept the role of being our No. 1 guy and I think he likes that. I think he is a competitive kid and he enjoys that role. That’s what you need in that situation, a guy who likes to compete and a guy who wants the ball in that big game. That’s Coley Wilson.”

Wilson leads the team with an 8-4 record, as he has lowered his ERA to 5.00. He also had 50 strikeouts in 75 innings.

“I knew I had the ability, I just had to get the mental part down,” Wilson said. “I had no idea that I would come this far. But it feels great to be able to win.”

Sritharan began the year on the Rangers A team before earning his first win of his varsity career on June 4 against WESTCO. He’s now 3-4 with a 4.64 ERA.

“I had trouble finding my release point early on, but now I’m starting to get into a rhythm and I’m starting to throw more strikes,” Sritharan said. “I’m really happy with that.”

McKinney said that Sritharan has made great strides this season, especially in the past few weeks.

“Obviously, when he first got to us last year we knew he had some potential; he has a very live arm,” McKinney said. “It was just question of where was it going? I’d say a lot of his recent success is due to his work ethic. He’s throwing every day, he’s doing his running and he’s doing his lifting. He’s really focusing on it. He’s starting to realize where his release point is. Now, it is just a mental thing. Now, it is him trusting himself and knowing how good he is and putting that to use.”

Sritharan said he is beginning to adapt to his new role.

“Coming up from the A level, I feel like people are beginning to depend on me to throw strikes,” said Sritharan, who will attend Brown University next fall to study match and medicine and walk on to the baseball team. “It’s much more important for me to work on my pitching, to get to the level that I want to be at, so we can have a solid pitching staff.”

Although born in in the United States, Sritharan’s family comes from Sri Lanka and he’s a late bloomer to the game of baseball.

“Last year, Sri didn’t know too much about baseball -- understandably -- he wasn’t around it that much,” McKinney said. “We’ve asked him to watch the Wednesday night doubleheader (on TV) and during games that he is not pitching, we have him keep the book. That’s helping him learn the game and learn situations. He does a great job of asking questions; he’s an intelligent kid. You just have to tell him once and he remembers it.”

Schoen is quickly developing into a reliable starting pitcher for the Rangers and has spun two straight shutouts, also blanking Fort Morgan, Colo., last week.

“He’s extremely baseball smart,” McKinney said of Schoen. “He’s not afraid of anyone, either. For a 15-year-old, there’s not too many kids who can do that. He’s a very special kid.”

McKinney said the key to Schoen’s success is his cerebral game.

“He’s a kid who thinks between pitches,“ McKinney said. “I think one of Max’s biggest strengths is he understands that he is not a strikeout pitcher. He doesn’t need to get strikeouts. He knows he has to get groundballs and flyballs.”

After a slow start, Schoen is now 3-1 and he has lowered his ERA to 6.03.

“I’m starting to dial in and get my pitches down low,” Schoen said. “I’m not trying to throw strikeouts, I’m just throwing ground balls and my defense is giving me confidence because they don’t make a lot of errors.”

As well as Wilson, Sritharan and Schoen have thrown as late, another key for the Rangers success at conference and state will now only center around them, but around their bullpen as well.

McKinney likes what he sees there as well.

“In any kind of sticky situation, Mike Garner does an unbelievable job. He can’t start and he doesn’t want to start. But he comes in during the third inning, the fifth inning, and he can shut it down for us,” McKinney said. “We have a kid like Jason Rodriguez who doesn’t like to start either and he does just fine. Rylan Harding is very promising and I have confidence in him. We also have Skyler Joy closing it out. He throws hard and has the 18-year-old mentality. If we’re in the game in the third and fourth inning, I am confident with our staff and what we have going.”

Wilson said with the way they have pitched as of late, the Rangers are a more confident team.

“If we can throw strikes and the offense does its job, then we can win,” Wilson said. “We know if we pitch well, we can go out and have a chance to win every day.”

Rangers finish 4-1 at Scottsbluff; win tourney

Richard Anderson photo
The Laramie Rangers return home Wednesday and Thursday with a pair of doubleheaders against Sheridan and Green River respectively.

By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. -- Finishing unbeaten was the Laramie Rangers final goal on Sunday to conclude the Scottsbluff Screen Printing Wood Bat Classic.

The Rangers came up short on their goal, but still came away with a nice 4-1 record for the three-day invitational, as they split their final two games, losing to Ogallala, Neb., 9-4, but rallying to edge the Buckley Bombers of Aurora, Colo., 7-6.

Laramie, which hosts Sheridan and Green River in a pair of mid-week doubleheaders, is now 18-21 on the season.

Laramie might not have finished unbeaten, but the Rangers won their first tournament of the season and first in a few years.

"For the last few weeks, we've had tournaments each weekend," Laramie manager Sean McKinney said. "Since the Dooley Oil Classic, we've focused on trying to win them. We went 3-2 (at the Dooley Oil Classic), and with our Firecracker, we wanted to win that one. We were a game away from winning that one. With this being our last tournament in a row in this stretch, we wanted to do everything we could to win this one. We came out 4-1 and did exactly what we tried to do. I'm really proud of the way the kids played this weekend."

After giving up just one run in their first three games of the tournament, it appeared as if Laramie was on its way to another low-scoring contest, tied with Ogallala 1-1 after four innings. Laramie starting pitcher Jordan Rhodine, however, gave up a pair of runs in the fifth and Ogallala pulled away with three runs in each of the sixth and seventh innings off of reliever Rylan Harding and Skyler Joy.

Laramie did finish with 10 hits in the game, led by Sean Gardea and Joy with two hits each. Coley Wilson also knocked in a pair of runs.

The Rangers continued to struggle a bit early against Buckley, trailing 5-0 after four innings before getting back in the game with a run in the fifth and five runs in the sixth. After Buckley tied the game at 6-6 in the top of the seventh, Laramie won the game when Max Schoen scored on a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the seventh.

Mike Garner had a pair of doubles and an RBI for Laramie, with Schoen chipping in with three singles and Joy contributing a three-run triple in that five-run sixth inning.

Wilson, who won a three-hit shutout gem over Denver Mullen to begin the tournament in Friday, started the game on Sunday and struggled, giving up four hits and four runs (three earned) in 2 2/3 innings. Jason Rodriguez pitched 2/3 on an inning and Harding got the win, going the final four innings, giving up four hits and one run (unearned).

"Of course, we would have liked to go 5-0 and win that game, but I thought we came out a little sluggish on Sunday," McKinney said. "It was really hot there and it was a long weekend for the kids. But we pulled it out when we needed to in that second game. You can't win them all, but we have done a pretty good job of winning close games lately. We've won our last four one-run games. That is a big step for us because at the beginning of the year we were losing one-run games. For us to start winning close games, that is a key for us and our success for the rest of the season."

Laramie will host Sheridan in a twinbill Wednesday at 5 p.m. and Green River Thursday, beginning at 4 p.m.

McKinney said he likes to play teams from all over the region and save the Wyoming teams for the end.

"I just feel that getting that outside competition helps us at the very end," he said. "Sheridan is going to be very good, and the same for Green River. They (Green River) joined our conference, so we're going to have to have a good showing this week and really get after it. We need to win these games."

Rangers Prep fall to Scottsbluff

Richard Anderson photos

Laramie Prep manager VerDon Hoopes talks to Taylor Boggess between innings Saturday against the WESTCO (Scottsbluff, Neb.) Express. At bottom, first baseman Tyler Loose tags out a WESTCO player.

By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

The Laramie Rangers Prep team, now in the thick of its American Legion schedule, knows the odds are stacked against them.

The 13- and 14-year-old Rangers -- in Legion play -- usually take on teams that are a year or two ahead of them, especially physically.

That was the case on Saturday as the Rangers Prep team (12-14) dropped a doubleheader to the WESTCO Express, a Legion junior varsity team out of Scottsbluff, Neb., 12-1 and 18-9. In the second game, the Rangers actually led 9-3 before the Express took off.

Laramie manager VerDon Hoopes said the second loss was especially frustrating because the Rangers were seemingly in control.

“We were cruising along at the end of four and then we give up the six-run inning to tie it up,” Hoopes said. “I think that is the difference … you’re dealing with 15- and 16-year-olds over there and when they got down, they knew how to handle it. Once we got down, we’re just not mature enough to come back and do that just yet.

“We did a lot of good things today, but we did too many bad things and that’s why we lost two games.”

Despite the losses, it was a learning experience for the young Rangers team.

“We got some good pitching performances from a couple of kids that we are real pleased with,” Hoopes said. “We’re hitting the ball around pretty good. We left too many guys on base, but that this point in the season we’re getting them on base and early on playing these older kids, we weren’t doing that. We’re seeing some pretty good pitching and able to hit the ball around pretty good.”

Hoopes added that they have to keep working hard.

“We just have to try to mature a little bit as we go,” he said.

Kevin Dooley paced the Rangers in the first game with three hits, with Sam Feldman adding a pair of singles. Feldman took the loss on the mound, giving up 12 hits in the five-inning game and only six earned runs. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out six.

Laramie jumped out to a 9-3 lead after four innings in the second game, but gave up six runs in the fifth and nine more in the sixth. Dylan Watson pitched well to start the game, giving up five hits and three runs in three-plus innings. Abel Casas, Alex Jordan and Hunter Wick then pitched the next three innings, with Taylor Boggess pitching a scoreless final 1 2/3 innings.

Boggess led the Rangers with three hits and two RBI, with Dooley adding two singles. Watson and Wick both had RBI singles in the game and Feldman added an RBI.

Laramie returns to action at Rawlins on July 17 for a doubleheader.

Rangers A falls to Rock Springs AA

The Laramie A team was eliminated from the Douglas Tournament on Saturday, but that didn’t leave manager Jeremy Francom with a bad taste in his mouth.

Francom said his team might have played its best baseball of the season in the 10-9 loss to the Rock Springs AA squad.

“Today, I was happy with the way we rebounded from Friday’s loss,” Francom said. “We went to the plate aggressive and made the plays that came to us. We got down in the game, but today was one of the first times that we fought back. We took the lead, they regained the lead, but we stayed right with them and put the pressure on them.”

On Friday, Laramie fell to Douglas 10-2.

Trailing 10-6 on Saturday, Laramie scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth and another run in the bottom of the sixth and had the game-tying run on third base in the bottom of the seventh. The Rangers, despite some strong situational play, couldn’t quite push across the final run.

“We put ourselves in place to win the ballgame and that is exactly what we needed to do,” Francom said. “We haven’t been able to do that in the past and today was the first time we came together as a team; we fought, got back in the game and gave us a chance to win.”

Lance McCartney had three hits for Laramie, including two doubles. Brody Hilgenkamp, Derek Campbell, Tyler Mitchell and Nick Armijo all had two hits each. Josh Peterson had a double, Travis Scott a single and Nolan Carter drove in three runs.

Barry Thomas took the loss on the mound, giving up all 11 hits and 10 runs in 4 1/3 innings, with McCartney pitching a scoreless final 2 2/3 innings.

Laramie (9-17) returns to action Tuesday with a doubleheader at Wheatland, before hosting the annual Kleppinger Klassic Friday through Sunday at Cowboy Field.

Wilson, Rangers blank Mullen

by Wyoming Sports.org

SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. -- Coleton Wilson was spectacular once again.

The Laramie Rangers AA pitching ace blanked Denver Mullen on just three hits on Friday as the Rangers opened the Scottsbluff, Neb., tournament with a 2-0 victory.

Wilson, now 8-4 on the season, gave up a single to Joey Ross to begin the game, but would yield just two other singles in the seven-inning contest, as Mullen had just three base runners advance to second base in the contest. Wilson walked two and struck out three.

The Rangers offense, meanwhile, had just seven hits and two runs, but that was enough. Laramie scored on a two-run single by Jon Sorenson in the bottom of the third inning.

Sorenson and Sean Gardea paced with the Rangers with a pair of hits each.

On Saturday, the Rangers (17-20) routed host WESTCO 11-1 and edged Chadron, Neb., 1-0. No other results were available. The Rangers closed the tournament on Sunday against Ogallala, Neb., and Chappell, Neb.

Rangers split at Fort Morgan

by Wyoming Sports.org

FORT MORGAN, Colo. -- The Laramie Rangers bounced back from a tough eighth-inning loss to earn a split against Fort Morgan in an American Legion baseball doubleheader Wednesday night.

Fort Morgan took the opener 4-3 only to see the AA Rangers roll in the nightcap, 10-0 in five innings. With the split, Laramie is now 14-20 on the season.

Laramie starting pitcher Srihari Sritharan overcame a tough first inning in the opener and blanked Fort Morgan for six innings before the home team pushed across an unearned run in the bottom of the eighth.

The Rangers began the game with two runs in the first inning, only to see Fort Morgan score three times on one hit in the bottom half of the frame. Until the game-winner in the eighth inning, the only other run came with a single score by Laramie to tie the game in the sixth.

Sritharan gave up just five hits in the game for the tough-luck loss.

Shortstop Skyler Joy had two hits for the Rangers, who finished with six hits. Coley Wilson had the only other RBI for Laramie on a run-scoring single.

The Rangers bounced back in a big way in the second game, scoring four runs in the second for a 5-0 lead and never looking back. Laramie added single runs in the third and fourth innings before putting the game away with three in the fifth.

Laramie also got an outstanding pitching performance from Max Schoen, who gave up just five hits in the five innings.

The Rangers had 11 hits in the game, paced by Sean Gardea with three singles, followed by Wilson, Jon Sorenson and Ryan Ivy with two hits each. Rylan Harding, Joy and Wilson all had two RBI each.

The Rangers will return to action this weekend in the Scottsbluff Invitational in Scottsbluff, Neb.

Rangers open Firecracker with win

by Wyoming Sports.org

The Laramie Rangers continued their strong play, winning their third game in their last four tries, stopping WESTCO (Scottsbluff, Neb.) 10-7 Thursday night to conclude the first day of the annual Firecracker Invitational at Cowboy Field.

Laramie, now 11-18 on the season, is 5-0 against the Zephyrs this season.

Not only was it a good win for the Rangers, it was a comeback victory for Laramie. The Rangers spotted WESTCO four runs in the first inning, and after coming back for a 5-4 lead, trailed 7-5 in the fifth inning before scoring the final five runs of the game.

The Rangers scored twice in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game and took the lead for the final time in the sixth on RBI singles by second baseman Rylan Harding and left fielder Coleton Wilson.

Mike Garner came on to pitch the final two scoreless innings of relief for the win. Max Schoen, after giving up four runs on four hits in the first inning, finished strong, giving up just three runs in the next four innings.

Center fielder Jason Rodriguez paced the Rangers with two hits and two RBI, with right fielder Sean Gardea and shortstop Skyler Joy adding two hits each. Harding and Wilson both had a pair of RBI in the game.

Laramie returns to action in the tournament Friday night at 7 p.m. against Poudre (Colo).