Rangers sweep Cats; win 7th straight

By Bobby Abplanalp
Wyoming Sports.org

The Laramie Rangers AA American Legion baseball team concluded its four-game home stand unbeaten, rallying to beat the Douglas Cats 11-10 in the second game of a doubleheader Saturday afternoon at Cowboy Field. The Rangers won the opener, 17-3.

The Rangers have now won seven straight games and are 8-1 on the season.

“It feels great,” assistant coach Kyle Deck said. “We got a good group of kids who have been with us the past three years and they really know the game now. We scored some runs, and hopefully, we can outscore some teams, which has been going on so far.”

In the second game, the Rangers led 8-3 before the Cats clawed their way back and scored seven unanswered runs to take a 10-8 lead heading into the bottom of the sixth inning.

From there, the Rangers would rally behind clutch hitting and pitching from veteran Skyler Joy, who hit a game-tying RBI double in the bottom of the sixth before scoring the winning run on a sac fly by Jordan Rhodine. Joy, who came on to get the final out in the sixth, picked up the win on the mound with a scoreless seventh.

Joy also had a single and triple in the game, knocking in three runs. In the first game, he had a single, double, triple and four RBI. On the day, Joy was 5-of-6 with seven RBI and a stolen base.

More important, it might have been Joy’s right arm that saved the day for the Rangers.

“He was huge,” Deck said. “He’s our closer. Today, especially in the second game, I was trying to give him a rest and give some other guys some work, but to have him come in and be cool, especially in the top of the sixth, it just shows his character and he’s a great baseball player, he had a big game.”

“That’s pretty much been my role for the past couple of years, the closer role and pitching and everything,” Joy said. “So they usually count on me in close games like that and every time I can come through like that it’s always a good feeling.”

Right fielder Jon Sorenson had a big day hitting the ball for the Rangers, going 3-of-5, including a home run in the second game during the third inning to push the Laramie lead to 6-2.

“I think we got a lot of confidence coming into the season with all the young guys and the way it has turned out. Eight and one is kind of a special deal for us,” Sorenson said “It’s just timely hitting, we all did very well hitting in the situations we needed.”

The Rangers dominated the first contest in a game ended in a five-inning mercy rule. Rhodine got the win, pitching four innings and only allowing two runs.

Up next for the Rangers will be a doubleheader against the Wheatland Lobos on Tuesday in Wheatland, beginning at 5 p.m.

“They (Wheatland) swept us last year, which was pretty disappointing,” Joy said. “They’re a good team, but we thought we could beat them. We’ll be looking to get back at them this year.”