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.