Rangers Start Conference With Two Key Road Wins

A pair of good pitching performances helped the Laramie Rangers sweep their conference opening doubleheader at Sheridan Sunday in legion baseball.

Laramie took game one, 7-1, and won game two, 1-0. The Rangers improved to 29-22 on the season and 2-0 in the “AA East” conference for American Legion Baseball in Wyoming. They've won 10 of their last 11 games.

Starting pitchers Albert Steiner and Reid Baty were the stars for Laramie. Each went the full seven innings and picked up the victory on the mound.

Steiner allowed one unearned run on six hits with five walks and two strikeouts. He threw 95 pitches and improved to 3-3 on the season.

Meanwhile, Baty tossed 97 pitches in his shutout of the Troopers in game two. He allowed seven hits, but walked only one and struck out six. He improved to 7-0 on the mound this season.

Laramie manager Brandon Ruckman knew it was two big games for his ball club.

“I’m really glad to get those first two wins. It puts us in a good position for the remainder of conference play. The guys had their defensive hats on and played well behind Reid and Albert.”

Ruckman added, “The guys played a great doubleheader on the road, which is tough to do.”

The Rangers took a 6-0 lead in the first four innings of Sunday’s opener. Laramie took the lead for good in the first when Blake Moore doubled and scored on Will Yates’ RBI-groundout. In the second, Logan Pickard hit an RBI-double, while Ramon Gomez added an RBI-single for a 3-0 lead. Yates scored on a wild pitch in the third, and then the Rangers added two in the fourth inning. An error on Moore bunt led to a pair of runs.

After Sheridan scored in the fifth, another defensive error by the Trooper led to Laramie’s final run in the seventh.

Gomez led the Rangers’ offense with two hits and an RBI. Four of Laramie’s seven hits were doubles.

In game two, the only run came after Blake Moore reached on a single and came home on Albert Steiner’s RBI-hit to left field.

Moore had two hits in game two. Sheridan out-hit Laramie 7-to-6, but only one baserunner reached third in the game.

Ruckman said the sweep put them in a good spot with four conference games left.

“The teams on the West (conference) have been playing well and closed the gap between the West and the East conferences. So, we really want to get as high a seed as possible to give us a good position going into state.”

The Rangers return to action Tuesday, July 17 with a conference twin bill in Cheyenne against Post 6. The doubleheader begins at 5 p.m. from Powers Field. KOWB (AM 1290) will air both games Tuesday night. Coverage with David Settle will start at 4:45 p.m. You can also listen online or take the games mobile with our KOWB app.

Statistical information courtesy of GameChanger