Post 6 rolls past Rangers

Richard Anderson photo
Laramie first baseman Jordan Rhodine tries to pick off Cheyenne's Shay Cheever Friday night in the semifinals of the South District American Legion Tournament at Cowboy Field.

by Bobby Abplanalp
Wyoming Sports.org

The Laramie Rangers AA American Legion baseball team played tough, but perennial power Cheyenne Post 6 proved to be too much, as they wore down the Rangers for a 16-5 victory Friday to advance to Saturday's finals of the South District Tournament at Cowboy Field.

Laramie, 24-14, will play at 1 p.m. Saturday against the Green River Knights in a loser-out game that will see the winner automatically qualify for the state tournament next week in Rock Springs. The winner also will play in the third-place game at 4 p.m.

Cheyenne, which faces Wheatland Saturday in the title game at 7 p.m., struck first against the Rangers when center fielder Brandon Nimmo hit an RBI sacrifice fly to score right fielder Ty Sevoc for a 1-0 lead after one inning.

The score would stay that way until Post 6 took advantage of four walks by Laramie starting pitcher Rylan Harding in the third inning. With two outs, Sevoc would get things started, scoring off a wild-pitch from Harding. Nimmo would keep things going, as he stole third base and crossed home plate, then first baseman Shay Cheever would get an RBI single, sending home shortstop Ty Lain and left fielder Matthew Pullos. Cheever then came home from an RBI triple by second baseman Jorden Mossey to increase their lead to 6-1.

Laramie would come back in the fourth and fifth innings. In the fourth, Harding scored off an errant throw by Lain on a ground ball by Coleton Wilson, and Jon Sorenson scored off a ground out to first by first baseman Jordan Rhodine to cut the score to 6-3.

The Rangers then closed to within one run with a pair of scores in the fifth. Third baseman Nick Armijo came home off a wild-pitch by Myles McVeigh and Nimmo dropped a fly ball by Rhodine, which allowed Sorenson and Wilson to score to make it 6-5 going into the bottom of the fifth inning.

“We put pressure on them and it got to them a little bit,” Rangers manager Sean McKinney said. “They put the pressure right back on us, but we came out and played our game and we were right there.”

However, Cheyenne would answer the Rangers rally with six runs off of four hits in the bottom of the fifth inning. Pullos had two singles in the inning, one of which was for an RBI, designated hitter Tanner Renner hit an RBI double and Nimmo and Lain each had RBI walks as Brody Hilgenkamp was relieved after two thirds of the bottom of the fifth inning by Armijo, as Laramie now trailed 12-5.

Post 6 kept the pressure on the Rangers when third baseman Andrew Fanning hit an RBI single to score Renner, followed by an RBI double by Nimmo that sent home Fanning and Sevoc, and an RBI single by Lain scoring Nimmo for the final margin to end the game in the seventh inning with a 10-run mercy rule.

“Cheyenne is a great team,” McKinney said. “We played hard though and we’re right there with them. Cheyenne will put pressure on you and you got to match that. They’re a good ballclub and they got all kinds of guys and they’re a tough team. The state tournament goes through them.”

“Cheyenne has got a lot of guys to pick from and they always have a solid team,” Laramie shortstop Skyler Joy added. “We stayed with them for a while, which is exciting, but they just have so much depth within their roster that it’s hard to stick with them every at bat every inning.”

The Rangers had five hits compared to 10 for Cheyenne.

Saturday is a big game for the Rangers, who still have state tournament aspirations.

“We’re throwing Nolan (Carter), and he’s been solid for us all year (as a starting pitcher),” Joy said. “Green River, we don’t know anything about them, but I think we have the upper hand throwing our second best guy going into the third game of the tournament. Hopefully, Nolan can get it done for us and throw strikes and our bats will be there tomorrow.”

Green River stayed alive in the tournament with a 13-12 win over Rock Springs on Friday.

“This is the game to get to state,” McKinney said. “We really got to attack them and we got to put pressure on them. When they match that intensity, we got to match it right back. After this loss (to Cheyenne) we got to bounce back. That’s what you got to do in baseball.”

Also on Saturday, Torrington will play Riverton in the other loser-out game at 10 a.m.