Laramie Rangers Stumble Down the Stretch

The road wasn’t too kind to the Laramie Rangers over the last two days of American Legion baseball.

Laramie went 0-4 on their conference road swing to Sheridan and Gillette.

The losses put the Rangers into a tie for second in the East Conference with the Troopers at 5-7 in league games. Laramie won the tiebreaker by allowing four fewer runs than Sheridan in conference-only games.

Laramie (38-23) lost at Sheridan on Tuesday, 4-0 and 10-7 in 9 innings.

In the opener, the Rangers were held to two hits, which were back-to-back singles by Billy Jenkin and Diego Medina in the second inning.

In the nightcap, Laramie blew a 7-0 lead and lost in the second extra inning. Garrett Dodd hit two home runs that helped the Rangers to the early lead. Down 7-3, Sheridan scored four in the seventh and tied the game. A walk-off three-run home run in the ninth inning gave the Troopers the sweep.

On Wednesday, Laramie struggled in game one at Gillette. The Riders blanked the Rangers, 4-0. Laramie had no hits and struck out 15 times in the game. Their only baserunners were on three walks.

In the nightcap, the Rangers trailed 9-0 early before they mounted a small comeback. A six-run fifth got Laramie closer, but they lost to Gillette, 11-7. Aidan Morris, Brandon Chavez, and Ryan Chamberlain paced the offense with two hits apiece. Riley Hogsett drove in two runs.

The Rangers won their home finale on July 14 over Bozeman, MT, 7-5. Laramie went 2-3 at the Gabe Pando Memorial tournament in Fort Collins last weekend. The Rangers lost their last two games of that tourney and enter the postseason on a six-game slide.

Thanks to the tiebreaker, Laramie keeps the No. 2 seed from the East and will play the Jackson Giants in their opener game of the ‘AA’ American Legion Baseball State Tournament on Monday at Cowboy Field. The game is at 7 p.m. Opening ceremonies are planned for 6:30 p.m.

Statistics used were courtesy of GameChanger.