Laramie Rangers Win Streak Hits Five

Laramie (11-7) defeated the Jefferson Academy Jaguars from Broomfield, CO on Saturday. The score of game one was 8-0, while the final of game two was 10-0. Sunday, the Rangers played without their top-line players, which gave younger players a chance to take the field. Laramie defeated the Westco Express from Scottsbluff, NE 10-0 in game one and 11-0 in game two.

Manager Aaron Lozano pointed to the Rangers’ success on the mound as the key to their weekend sweeps.

“I can’t say enough about the way our guys have taken advantage of the pitching we’ve gotten, on defense. Guys like Mason Branch making a sweet play at shortstop (Sunday); just backing up the pitcher. We’ve minimized our errors in these last four or five games, and it’s really shown; it’s really shown.”

The weekend was all about Laramie’s pitching.

Against the Jaguars on Saturday, Ryan Chamberlain and Brandon Chavez combined on a two-hit shutout. They struck out 15 Jefferson Academy batters. Chamberlain also went 2-4 at the plate with 5 RBI’s.

The second game ended after five innings due to the 10-run mercy rule. Starting pitcher Tyler Oppie threw all five innings and allowed only three hits and struck out 11. Caleb Eaton led the offense with two hits and drove in three runs.

Sunday was more of the same.

The first game saw Branch and Ben Ruckman combine on a six-hit shutout. Laramie reached the 10-run mercy rule in the sixth inning. The two hurlers totaled 13 strikeouts against the Westco Express. A five-run first inning propelled Laramie to the victory. Kolby Buus and Tayton Moore had two hits and one RBI apiece to lead the offense.

Game two was led by Darnale Bangert. He tossed a three-hit shutout, as the Rangers won 11-0. The game was stopped in the fourth inning. Bangert added two hits and two RBI’s at the plate, while both Cayson McLean and Diego Medina had two hits and two RBI’s. Laramie scored nine runs in the first two innings.

Lozano added that he and the rest of the coaching staff felt they’d been playing to the level of their competition.

“That’s not to say anything bad about the teams that have beaten us, but there are games where we could’ve played a lot better. Maybe the outcome changes, maybe it doesn’t, but it felt like in a lot of our losses we just hadn’t played Ranger baseball. Maybe game two against Cheyenne (Post Six on June 15) is the one example of a loss where we played good ball but came out of it on the losing end. To see these guys step up and figure out how to put a team away has been nice.”

Lozano also said of the five-game winning streak where they’ve allowed only one run, “I don’t care if you’re playing the Bad News Bears, it doesn’t happen very often, no matter who you’re playing. It probably won’t continue to happen because we’re going to see Casper and Sheridan, and those guys are going to hit the ball, and they’re going to put it in play. They’ll probably score some runs, but, hey, (we) may as well enjoy this while we’re in the middle of it.”

The Rangers return to action with the final two games in their eight-game homestand on Tuesday at Cowboy Field. Laramie takes on the Casper Oilers in a doubleheader starting at 5 p.m.

KOWB (AM 1290) radio will broadcast game two of the twin bill against Casper on Tuesday. Coverage will start at approximately 6:45 p.m. or about 10 minutes after game one concludes, whichever comes first. David Settle will call the action from Cowboy Field.

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