Riders snap Rangers win streak

by Bobby Abplanalp
Wyoming Sports.org

Gillette seems to have the Laramie Rangers number so far this season.

The AA Rangers American Legion baseball team was cruising along a nine-game winning streak until it faced the defending state champion Roughriders on Friday at Cowboy Field, falling 10-6.

The Rangers are now 10-2 on the year, with both losses coming at the hands of Gillette. The Roughriders beat the Rangers 8-5 in Gillette earlier this year. With the win, Gillette is now 18-10 on the year.

Gillette quickly opened out of the gates with five unanswered runs in the first two innings.

“They got up early,” Rangers manager Sean McKinney said. “They got up on us 5-0, but we didn’t give up, we came right back to them. I think the most important thing is to control our attitudes when we can and to close innings out when we have two outs.”

Laramie scored three runs in the fourth to cut the score to 6-3, but that was as close as the Rangers would get. Their fourth-inning threat was stopped when Anthony Cramer of Gillette struck out left fielder Lance McCartney with two men on to get out of the inning. Laramie would get no closer than the final score.

Second baseman Rylan Harding had a big day hitting the ball, going 2-for-4 with a double and a single, but the loss was tough.

“We can improve on keeping our heads up when we’re down,” Harding said. “We need to keep working on winning whether we are down or up. Know matter what the score is, we need to just keep peddling.”

“We did some pretty good things hitting the ball, but we couldn’t string multiple hits in an inning together,” assistant coach Kyle Deck said. “They (Gillette) did a pretty good job of limiting our innings. We just couldn’t get things going; they would put a stop to it.”

Laramie may not play Gillette again until the state tournament in Rock Springs from July 29-Aug. 2.

“Gillette is good, but they’re beatable just like anybody in this state is,” Harding said. “Every team is beatable on any given day, so we’ll come for them next time. We’ll be head-hunting.”

The Rangers return to action Sunday with a quick turnaround against Torrington Tigers, for a doubleheader beginning at noon in Torrington. On Thursday, Laramie swept the Tigers at Cowboy Field, winning 11-1 and 12-1.