Rangers Take Two Against the Troopers

The Laramie Rangers accomplished their goal on Wednesday night, a sweep of Sheridan in a conference doubleheader at Cowboy Field.

Laramie (27-20, 2-6) won the opening game with a dramatic comeback, 3-2. They took the nightcap, 7-1.

Rangers’ manager Aaron Lozano said that was huge.

“They played hard, they played well. I think one of the more impressive things in that second game was, get a couple of delays with the weather, and these guys still came out swinging the bat, able to put some runs on the board. That’s not easy to do, to come in cold and do that, so I was very happy with the way they played.”

In the opener, Laramie had to rally for the victory. Ryan Chamberlain hit a solo home run to left field for the game’s only score in the first five innings. Sheridan took the lead with two runs on four hits in the sixth. The Rangers threatened and got the tying run to third in the bottom of the inning, but Tyler Oppie was caught stealing at home plate.

The seventh started with a single by Riley Hogsett. Darek Squires laid down a sacrifice bunt that was mishandled by the Sheridan pitcher. After a fielder’s choice produced a force-out at third, Laramie had two on base with one out. Aidan Morris smacked a 2-1 pitch to right-center field for the game-winning, walk-off, two-run double.

Lozano said of Morris’ game-winner, “He stayed in, and he did what he needed to do with that pitch. He told everybody afterward, hey, it feels good to go with the pitch. It feels good to go opposite field. He said, geez that felt great. I went with the pitch, it was pitched outside, I went with it, and here we are winning the game.”

In the second game, Laramie got on the board thanks to a Garrett Dodd two-run double down the left-field line in the second inning. They added two more in the third on an RBI-triple by Caleb Eaton and a sacrifice fly by Morris. The Troopers got their only run on a sac fly in the fourth, which made it 4-1.

There were two weather delays, one after the fourth and the other was with one out in the top of the sixth. The Rangers added three runs in the sixth after the second delay that iced it. Brandon Chavez hit a two-run single, while Eaton added an RBI-single.

Dodd got the win in relief in game one, while Oppie was the winning pitcher in game two.

Lozano was very pleased with how his squad reacted to some adversity.

“In the first game, there were a couple of missed signs throughout the game, and I told them, the radio edit is, you guys gotta pull your heads out. You’ve gotta get back to what you know. You’ve got to get back to playing Ranger baseball. It’s a winnable ball game, and they went out and responded to that.”

The Rangers return to action Saturday against Cheyenne Post Six. The doubleheader starts at 4 p.m. from Cowboy Field.