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.”