Laramie Rangers Win One of Five at Omaha Tournament

The recent struggles for the Laramie Rangers continued at the Battle of Omaha in Nebraska last weekend.

Laramie went 1-4 in the tournament and fell to 21-15 on the season. They’ve dropped seven of their last nine games.

Manager Aaron Lozano described the weekend by saying they weren’t consistent at the plate.

“I felt like, offensively, not our best showing. Kind of seems to be like, a team trying to find its way offensively, right now, and so far, haven’t found it.”

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Last Thursday, June 23, the Rangers opened the tournament with a 4-1 loss to Williston, ND. The Keybirds scored all four of their runs in the third inning. Laramie was held to one hit in defeat. The second game was an 8-0 setback to UBT Lincoln (NE) Pius X. With a 3-0 lead, they scored five more in the last two innings. The Rangers committed eight errors in the loss.

On Friday, Laramie got their only victory in the tourney. They defeated the Rapid City (SD) Sliders, 17-8. The Rangers held an 8-6 lead when they scored nine runs in the fourth inning. The big frame included RBI hits from Brandon Chavez and Tayton Moore. Laramie also took advantage of a passed ball and an error, plus an RBI triple from Garrett Dodd and a two-run double by Chavez. Ben Ruckman had two hits, including a home run, and four RBIs. Chavez had two hits and drove in three runs, while Riley Hogsett added two hits and two RBIs.

Last Friday’s second game saw Elk North from Omaha beat Laramie, 5-3. Elk North scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth to pull out the win. The Rangers were held to only four hits. Ben Malone had two of those hits and the only RBI for Laramie.

The tournament ended with a 9-3 loss to Bellevue, NE, on Saturday. A seven-run second inning put Bellevue in control. Billy Jenkin had three hits and drove in one run in defeat. Dodd added two hits, including a solo home run and a triple.

As for the recent slump with seven losses over their last nine games, Lozano said that is definitely a concern.

“We’ve seen the potential to fight back that this team has, early on in the season, and I’m pretty confident that these guys can figure it out, especially, as experienced as this ball club is.”

Laramie had conference doubleheaders on the road at Rock Springs on Tuesday and at Evanston on Wednesday.

Game statistics from GameChanger were used in this story.