Riverton sweeps Rangers A team

by Bobby Abplanalp
Wyoming Sports.org

The bigger, stronger and faster Riverton Raiders proved to be too much for the Laramie Rangers Tuesday at Cowboy Field in American Legion A baseball action, sweeping the doubleheader, 21-8 and 6-3.

The A Rangers have lost three straight games to fall to 5-6 on the season.

Game one was all Riverton, as it led 13-7 heading into the seventh and tacked on seven more runs to halt any chance of a Rangers comeback. Laramie could only score one run in the bottom of the seventh for the final margin.

“I think the first game we came out a little intimidated because they’re a little bit bigger team,” Rangers A coach Brandon Ruckman said.

“I think we came out in the first game and we were cocky,” added Rangers left fielder Lance McCartney. “We just wanted to walk all over them (Riverton). I think we actually got intimidated by how big they were; that kind of made it difficult.”

The second game started out like the first game as Riverton scored three quick runs in the first inning. Laramie would remain within striking distance for the rest of the game behind clutch pitching from Kevin Dooley and hitting from McCartney. Dooley had three strikeouts through six innings, while McCartney was 2-for-3 with a single and an RBI-triple.

“I think that’s probably the best I’ve seen him (Dooley) pitch throughout the season,” McCartney said. “That’s a lot better than what most people have done.”

McCartney hit his RBI-triple off of Riverton pitcher Doss Winter, which made the score 5-2 in favor of the Raiders after the third inning. Each team would tack on one more run for the final score.

“We just came out and made it competitive in the second game, which is nice,” Ruckman said. “We didn’t make as many errors, we held defensively, and Kevin Dooley threw a pretty good game and kept us in it.”

The Rangers A squad will be in action again Wednesday when they take on the Wheatland Lobos in a doubleheader beginning at 5 p.m., in Wheatland.

“We’ll come out ready tomorrow for Wheatland,” McCartney said. “It will make it a lot easier, seeing how that is one of the best teams (Riverton) we’ve played so far.”