Rangers rally past Tigers

by Wyoming Sports.org

GILLETTE -- The Laramie Rangers will live for another day.

Laramie stayed alive in the Wyoming AA State American Legion baseball tournament by defeating Green River 15-2 and Torrington 10-9 on Friday.

The Rangers, 26-25 on the season, will face Cheyenne Saturday at 1 p.m., with the winner meeting Gillette in the title game at 7 p.m. The Roughriders earned a trip to the championship game with a come-from-behind 9-7 win over Post 6 on Friday night.

While the first game on Friday was a blowout, the second game was nearly the same in reverse. Torrington jumped on the Rangers 9-2 after four innings of play before Laramie, behind reliever Skyler Joy, chipped away and then took the lead with a four-run seventh inning. Three of those runs came on one error.

Joy pitched 5 2/3 innings of scoreless ball to pick up the victory.

Although the Rangers enjoyed two relative easy wins over the Tigers this season -- including a 15-6 win in the state tournament opener on Wednesday, this was far from easy for Laramie.

In fact, you could say it was somewhat difficult. Torrington, which beat Sheridan 11-0 earlier in the day, started where they left off against the Troopers with three runs off of young starting pitcher Barry Thomas, who was elevated from the Rangers A team this week.

Laramie didn’t help Thomas with two errors in the inning. That sloppy play continued to hurt the Rangers, as Torrington added two runs in each of the next three innings for what appeared to be a comfortable lead.

Laramie scored single runs in the second and third innings, including a solo home run by Jason Rodriguez in the third. The Rangers got back in the game with as three-run fifth. Rylan Harding got things going with an RBI single and Laramie added two more runs on a bases-loaded sac fly by Coleton Wilson and a single by Mike Garner.

The Rangers made it 9-6 in the sixth on a RBI single by Joy.

Torrington felt the heat and fell apart in the seventh. Two Tiger errors played the first run of the inning and after loading the bases, Laramie scored three times on another Tiger error. Laramie had just one hit in the inning.

Joy, who had stabilized the Laramie pitching, stopped the tigers in the next two innings, including a 1-2-3 ninth.

The Rangers had 14 hits in the game, led by Rodriguez with a single, double and home run. Gardea and Garner added two hits.

In the first game, Green River stayed within striking distance before the Rangers scored seven runs in the sixth and three more in the second. Laramie scored four runs in the first inning, with two coming off a two-run home run by Harding.

Max Schoen went the distance to pick up the pitching win, giving up just four hits and two runs in seven innings. Both runs came in the first inning for Green River.

The Rangers had 13 hits against the Knights, led by Wilson’s three safeties and three RBI. Joy and Jon Sorenson had two this each, with Sorenson driving home four runs.
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Rangers 15, Knights 2
Laramie 400 017 3 -- 15 13 0
Green River 200 000 0 -- 2 4 2

Rangers 10, Tigers 9
Laramie 011 031 400 -- 10 14 4
Torrington 322 200 000 -- 9 11 4