Sun. 5/7/2017
Game 7
Rangers 12, Wild Boars 10,
10 innings
The Rangers (5-2) turned a one-sided affair into an extra-inning nail-biter after overcoming a 9th inning meltdown to defeat the Wild Boars 12-10 in 10 innings on Sunday, May 7 at Rice Field.
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The Rangers got the ball rolling in the top of the first scoring twice off of former Ranger Zach Carroll. Ben Schooler and Jonmarc Lippincott singled in succession, followed by an RBI double from Ryan Kemp. Kemp's two-bagger was the franchise's 20,000th official at-bat! Eric Becker drove in Lippincott with a groundout to give the Rangers a 2-0 lead right out of the gate.
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Todd Peck made his 2017 debut and singled and scored on Schooler's RBI single in the second for a 3-0 advantage. The Rangers added three more runs in the fourth, highlighted by Schooler's 2-run single.
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Ryan Kemp, making his debut as a starter, was nearly lights out over four innings of work, allowing an unearned run on 2 hits, while striking out 8.
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Meanwhile, the Rangers continued to pad their lead in the fifth on an RBI single from Cody Oakes, who plated Becker who had doubled earlier. A groundout RBI from Nick Gilmore and an RBI single from Brody Dunlevy increased the lead to 9-1 through seven innings.
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Ryan Meinert, in relief of Kemp, blanked the Boars in the 5th-6th-7th innings, but allowed two runs in the 8th to keep the Rangers ahead at 9-3.
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The fateful 9th inning saw a breakdown on defense as the infield accounted for 3 fielding miscues amongst the first 6 batters of the inning, ultimately resulting in 6 runs to force extras.
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In the 10th, Dunlevy and Rob Pederson drew walks. After a strikeout, Lippincott was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Kemp then delivered with his 4th hit of the game to score Dunlevy, and Pederson scampered home on a throwing error. Lippincott would later score on a wild pitch to make it 12-9.
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Cody Oakes, the benefactor of porous defense in the 9th, got much better support in the bottom of the 10th, as the Boars could only muster one run and the infield gloves did the rest to give Oakes his first MVABL win.
Offensive highlights: Ryan Kemp 4-for-6, double, 2RBI; Cody Oakes 4-for-5, RBI; Ben Schooler 3-for 6, 3RBI; Eric Becker 3-6, double, 2R.
Historical Notes: Ryan Kemp's RBI double in the first inning was the team's 20,000 official at-bat.