Tough Weekend for the Rangers in Gillette

It was a rough weekend for the Laramie Rangers, as they went 1-4 at the Hladky Tournament in Gillette last Thursday through Sunday.

Laramie (14-15) was 0-3 in pool play. After a loss in cross-bracket play last Saturday, the Rangers finally broke through with a victory Sunday over Rock Springs.

Manager Brandon Ruckman felt they didn’t play up to their potential.

“It seemed like we struggled on either defense or offense during the tournament and couldn’t put together both a good offensive and clean defensive game. We made a lot of errors, and our pitchers had too many walks and hit batters. We can’t make those kind of mistakes against the better teams in the region.”

In their first pool play game, Laramie was shut down last Thursday. The pitcher from Columbia Basin, WA tossed a perfect game with no runs, no hits, no walks and no errors. The final was 15-0 in three innings.

The second game on Thursday, the Rangers failed to hold leads of 6-2 and 7-5. They lost to Premier West from Denver, CO by a final of 15-7. Laramie surrendered nine runs over the final two innings.

In their final pool play game last Friday, the Rangers lost to Rawhide Iron Horse from Johnstown, CO, 5-4. Laramie rallied from a 4-2 deficit. They tied it on Treyven Armijo’s two-run single in the fifth. Rawhide won it after an error by the Rangers was combined with a groundout, stolen base and wild pitch led to the go-ahead run.

In cross bracket play, Minot, ND defeated Laramie 10-2 last Saturday. The Rangers fell behind 7-1 after two innings and couldn’t rally back.

In their finale Sunday, Laramie beat Rock Springs Archie Hay Post 24 for a fifth time this season. The final score was 17-11. Reid Baty led the way with three hits, including a triple and six RBI’s. David Coulthard got the win on the mound.

Ruckman said, “We looked better Sunday, but still have some work to do before conference games and state.”

The Rangers are back on the road Tuesday for a twin bill in Casper against the Oilers. The games are set for 4 and 6 p.m. from Mike Lansing Field.