Laramie Rangers Extend Win Streak and Take Two From Rock Springs

Make it five straight wins for the Laramie Rangers. They swept a conference twin bill against Rock Springs at home on Tuesday.

Laramie held off the Stallions, 12-8, in the opening game, and then took the nightcap, 10-0 in six innings at Cowboy Field.

The Rangers improved to 19-20 on the season and are 4-4 in conference games this year.

To keep the win streak alive and reach .500 in conference play, Laramie manager Aaron Lozano said it’s huge.

“At this point in the season, those games are so important. You see the top two teams in our state split tonight, so you pick up a game on those guys. Maybe we catch them, maybe we don’t. That’s neither here nor there, but you play well enough to pick up a game on the teams ahead of you. That’s a good day.”

In game one, Laramie let 4-0 and 9-3 leads slip away before they held on for the 12-8 victory. Mason Branch had a two-run triple and scored on a delayed steal of home for a 4-0 lead in the first inning. Rock Springs answered with three runs in the second. The Rangers scored five runs over the next three innings and led 9-3, but the Stallions came back. They trimmed it to 9-8 after a four-run sixth inning. Branch started the bottom of the sixth with a triple and scored on a ground out. Ben Malone added an RBI double and scored on a ground out, which gave Laramie the cushion they needed.

Tayton Moore added two hits and two RBIs. Aidan Buchanan was the winning pitcher and had two hits and drove in one at the plate.

Game two saw three Rangers’ pitchers combine on a 1-hit shutout. Jace Moniz got the win on the mound. Laramie scored twice in the first and added three runs in the third, highlighted by Moore’s two-run double. The Rangers closed it out with five runs in the sixth, which invoked the ten-run mercy rule.  In that frame, Laramie capitalized on an error, an RBI single from Mason Aragon, an RBI triple by Malone, and four hit batters. Sam Hoyt’s RBI single ended the game.

Lozano wasn’t entirely pleased with the sweep.

“I thought it could’ve been better, to be honest with you. Offensively, we had some interesting approaches. I really felt like we could have put that first game away, and then, just sort of doesn’t work out for us… In general, I think just really inconsistent throughout the evening.”

Lozano pointed to some bright spots, such as the pitching of Hoyt, and Buchanan in numerous ways.

Get our free mobile app

The Rangers will head to the Cheyenne Post Six Firecracker tournament this weekend. They will play Thursday, June 29, through Sunday, July 2. The first four games are pool play, and the final game or two is match play.

Laramie will face the Cheyenne Hawks in their first pool play game at 1 p.m. on Thursday. KOWB Radio will broadcast all the Rangers games in the tournament starting on Thursday. That coverage will start at 12:45 p.m.