Laramie Rangers Host The Dooley Oil Classic This Weekend

The 15th Dooley Oil Classic baseball tournament hosted by the Laramie Rangers is Friday through Sunday at Cowboy Field. Laramie welcomes three other teams from Wyoming and Colorado for weekend action. The schedule is a round-robin event, where each team will get four games. It is the only home tournament for the AA squad in the 2024 season.

LARAMIE RANGERS LEGION BASEBALL HOSTS A TOURNAMENT

The Dooley Oil Classic has been a staple of the Rangers schedule since it started in 2008. The tournament was not held in 2020 and 2021. After a two-year hiatus, the Dooley Oil Classic returned in 2022, and it saw Laramie win their home tournament. Last year, the Rangers finished 3-1 in the tournament.

The Rangers are 11-10 on the season, and sixth-year manager Aaron Lozano says he wants the team to continue to improve.

“It’s just another opportunity for us to go out and work on things and establish some things. We’ve had quite a few injuries this year, and we have the depth to overcome it, but it’s led to some things where you’re like, oh, gosh, who’s going to play first base? We tried Trace Looney at that spot in Rapid (City). He looked really good, and kind of natural there, so use this weekend as an opportunity to get him another game there and get some experience. Just stuff like that, that you want to do, and then keep your pitchers in shape and healthy.”

The rest of the field includes the Cheyenne Hawks, Rock Springs Stallions, and USA Prime Miners from Broomfield, CO.

Lozano said, “We love having Rock Springs and (their coach) Rocky (Rondinelli) over. He’s not going to miss this tournament any time he has a chance to come. It’s good to have the Hawks back in it. We haven’t had them for several years. They’re playing really good baseball right now. Brad Barker’s got his team doing a lot of good things, and then we get the Miners from Colorado. (I’m) excited to see what they have. They are one of only six AA teams in the state of Colorado this season. They’re a team looking to prove something and maybe make it to a regional.”

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Laramie's Beginning To Come On At The Plate

The Rangers went 3-2 last weekend at the Black Hills Veterans Classic. They did win three of their last four. Lozano feels they’ve started to turn the corner offensively. “We started to see some of those veteran guys that have been slow starting hit the ball really well… guys like Jace Moniz and Ben Malone… Those guys starting to hit the ball well and hit the gaps is pretty important.”

Laramie opens versus the USA Prime Miners at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. They will play twice on Saturday. First at noon against the Cheyenne Hawks, and then at 7:30 p.m. versus the Rock Springs Stallions. The final game for the Rangers is on Sunday at 11:30 a.m. against the Stallions. KOWB Radio will broadcast all four of the Laramie games live. You can listen to the games on the radio at AM 1290, through the KOWB mobile app, online at kowb1290.com, and through smart speakers, such as Amazon Alexa or Google Home devices. Coverage will start 15 minutes before the first pitch. David Settle will call the games.

Here is the full tournament schedule: