Laramie Rangers Sweep Casper Drillers in Doubleheader

Thanks to some good pitching and good offense, the Laramie Rangers bounced back from Monday's disastrous loss with a pair of victories over the Casper Drillers Wednesday night at Cowboy Field. Laramie took the double dip by scores of 14-5 and 8-2.

Rangers manager Rich Wilson said, "To step up and come and sweep a doubleheader, and have that intensity was just great. I couldn't ask for anything more."

Laramie pounded out 15 hits and took advantage of 7 walks and 5 errors by Casper in route to the 14-5 victory. Laramie jumped to a 5-0 lead in the first inning of game one, but the Drillers answered with 5 in the top of the second. The Rangers kept the pressure on, as they scored 3 in the second, two in the third and four more runs in the fourth. Casper didn't have a response, and Laramie went on to the 9-run victory.

Alex Jordan went five innings on the mound for the win. He gave up the five runs, only three earned, on nine hits with no walks and six strikeouts. Kacey Bernaski led the offense with four hits and two RBI's. Nate Hill added two hits and four RBI's.

Game two saw a solid pitching performance by Abel Casas, in his first start this season, as he went five innings, gave up two earned runs, walked one and struck out seven in the game two victory, 8-2 over the Drillers.

Casas has struggled with arm issues this season and has been limited to spot relief pitching duties. He threw 87 pitches Wednesday night, which included 54 for strikes.

Casas said afterward that he felt great, "These past couple of weeks, I've been kind of a closer. My arms been bothering me a little bit, and I felt great this week, so I tried it out. It's definitely a confidence booster for me today. Surprisingly I'm not hurting, I thought I would be, but it feels good right now."

Wilson added that Abel, "Kept battling real well. We got into some high pitches there for a while, but he settled in. I think it's going to help him. We'll throw him this weekend some more, and get him back in the routine. Hopefully we're just going forward with that."

Offensively, the Rangers jumped to a 4-1 lead after two innings of play, and they added two runs in both the fifth and six innings for the 6-run win. Alex Jordan went 3-4 with an RBI, while Tommy Johnson and Chance Jones added two hits apiece.

Laramie (16-7) continues their home stand with a pair of doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday against the Billings (MT) Halos. Both doubleheaders will begin at 5 p.m. from Cowboy Field. KOWB will have coverage of game one only on both days. Join David Settle, as he calls the action from the ballpark. The broadcasts will begin at 4:45 p.m. Friday and Saturday.