Laramie Rangers Crush the Cheyenne Hawks in Tourney Opener, 16-0

Three pitchers combined on a two-hit shutout, as the Laramie Rangers rolled to a 16-0 victory over the Cheyenne Hawks on Tuesday in the Capital City.

It was the first pool play game for Laramie in the Post 6 Firecracker Tournament in Cheyenne.

A nine-run second inning was part of an offensive onslaught for the Rangers at Pioneer Park. They have won six straight games.

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Manager Aaron Lozano was very pleased with how his team played.

“We’ve been in positions earlier in the season, where we had an opportunity to put a team away, and we stop hitting or we keep hitting, but our pitchers stop throwing strikes. We’ve just gotten into that team mentality. You’re up by a big score. You want your pitchers to come in and pitch to contact and get out of the innings, and I thought that was a pretty big deal for Jace Moniz, especially to be able to come in and do that, and the sticks just kept rolling.”

The Rangers jumped on the Hawks with three runs in the first. They scored on a wild pitch and RBI singles by Mason Branch and Griffin Webb.

Laramie poured it on with the big nine-run second inning. Tayton Moore got it rolling with a two-run single. Moniz and Branch followed with back-to-back RBI doubles. Diego Herrera capped the frame with a bases-clearing, 3-run triple.

The Rangers added three runs in the fourth and one in the fifth.

They finished with 15 hits, which included three doubles and a triple. Laramie also took advantage of seven walks and five hit batters.

“Today, I think unfortunately for the (Cheyenne) Hawks, they struggled a little bit on the mound, but our guys had good approaches at the plate and were able to take advantage of it,” said Lozano.

Branch led the offense with three hits and three RBIs. Both Herrera and Moore added two hits and three RBIs.

Sam Hoyt got the win on the mound. He started and went two innings. Herrera and Moniz finished it up with three scoreless innings of relief.

For the first time since early May, the Rangers are back at .500, record-wise. They are 20-20 on the year.

Lozano added, “I think that’s a big shot in the arm, to say, hey, we are kind of coming around to who we thought we were going to be. It just, maybe, took a little longer than we had hoped, but a lot more good competition is coming up in this tournament. To go 1-0 on the day is the goal and happy to have done that.”

Laramie returns to action with their second pool play game on Friday in Cheyenne at Pioneer Park. They will take on the Jefferson Academy Jaguars at 3:30 p.m. They beat the Jags in Laramie on June 10, 18-1, during the Dooley Oil Classic at Cowboy Field.

KOWB radio will have live coverage of the game starting at 3:15 p.m. David Settle will call the action. KOWB will be there for all the games in the tournament involving the Rangers. You can listen on your radio at AM 1290, online, through the KOWB app, and on smart speakers.