Rangers pull off an epic win; Slammers take only their 2nd loss of the year

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Coach Gilmore turned to Brandon Saylor to start against the Slammers for the third and final time of the season for what was one of the best starts the Rangers have seen all season. Starting off hot, Saylor went 1-2-3 in the top of the first giving way to the leadoff batter Nick Gilmore. Gilmore found his way aboard being plunked in the elbow on a 3-2 count. Gilmore stole second for his 110th time, tying the all-time Ranger record. Aside from Gilmore scampering his way to third on a passed ball, the Rangers were actionless as Beall struck out all three hitters of the inning.

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Saylor matched Beall in the top of the second inning striking out 2 Hall of Famers, the league leader in homeruns, and a former league MVP. Kyle Moyer led off the bottom of the second with a solid base knock up the middle, giving the Rangers their first hit of the game. Kyle then stole second and Coach Gilmore opted for Michael Seebock to give himself up via sacrifice bunt. Seebock executing, advanced Kyle to third with two outs. Both Jaret Quinn and Joe Becker walked but the top of the lineup could not come through as Gilmore grounded out on a nicely struck ball, but right at the shortstop.

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The Slammers finally showed some offensive hope in the top of the third with a line drive by Darren Himsworth, but Kyle Moyer was able to reel it in for the first out of the inning. After a beautiful barehand play by Cooper Nolte to record the second out of the inning, the Slammers got their first base hit of the day via the 9-hole. Leadoff hitter Daniel Barhorst forced a full count and Saylor was able to prevail, forcing a flyball to end the inning. Still knotted 0-0, the Rangers’ meat of the lineup came to the plate which resulted in only one hit, from Cooper Nolte. Aside from that, the Rangers were blanked again by starter Jeff Beall.

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Still scoreless in the top of the fourth inning, Saylor allowed a full count walk giving the Slammers a baserunner with no outs. A wild pitch and hard ground ball advanced the runner to third with Coach Rick Anderson at the plate. Saylor got ahead in the count 1-2 and one mistake pitch gave Rick the opportunity to drive a ball to right field, knocking the runner in and giving the Slammers their first tally of the game.

 

Uneventful until the bottom of the fifth inning, Nolte quickly got down 0-2, but in an incredible at-bat, drove a bad outside pitch to right field to give the Rangers a baserunner with one out. Cooper stole second and Markus Neff proved clutch, golf-swinging an outside pitch over the right field fence giving the Rangers the advantage 2-1.

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In Saylor’s 6th and last inning of work, he collected 3 more K’s advancing his total on the day to 11 making this only the 12th time since 2015 that the Slammers recorded double digit K’s and only the third time in a 7-inning game.

 

The Rangers tacked on another run on a Seebock single and a Quinn double which led to the fairytale ending. Hunter Kraynak came out to the mound for potentially his last outing as a Dayton Ranger. After giving up a single to the leadoff batter, Kraynak did what Kraynak does inducing a groundout and striking out the next two batters. Coach Gilmore quickly ran to the mound and handed him the game ball. The Rangers came out on top 3-1.

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