Timely Homeruns Prove Beneficial For Rangers

 

Veteran hall of famer Joe Becker toed the mound team leading 5th time of the season with what began as rocky as lead off hitter Zack Gomia roped a double into left field. Hall of Famer Jerel Bristol came to the plate and walked which led Alec Hutzelman to sacrifice himself, giving the Knights a strong advantage with 2 runners on and 1 out. Anthony Turner flew out to right field and the Knights took an early lead 1-0.

 

Gilmore led off the game with a walk and only advanced to third before the Rangers top ran into 3 outs via two ground balls and a pop out. With no difference in score until the bottom of the third inning, Brandon Saylor, who was only hitting as a prize for such a good outing against the Slammers on Thursday, hit a hanging curveball over the centerfield fence. Saylor rocked the infamous homerun chain for his first MVABL homerun and the Rangers knotted the game 1-1.

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Joe had settled in on the mound allowing no runs until the top of the fourth inning when three Knights hits in a row took the advantage from the Rangers and gave the Knights a 2-1 lead. After the last hit, Joe settled in and struck out the next two batters ending his outing 4 innings pitched, giving up 2 runs and striking out a pair.

 

The Rangers were actionless in the bottom but brought on Kenny Owens in the top of the 5th. Impressively, Kenny mowed through the lineup striking out one and inducing a groundball and a flyout.

 

Finally, the Rangers got a spark in the bottom of the 5th, Chris Ridl made it aboard by error then reached second on an overthrow. He then advanced third and home on two wild pitches. The Rangers weren’t done scoring, the prior seasons MVP Rob Pederson roped a double, scoring Brandon Saylor giving the lead to the Ranger 3-2.

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In the top of the 6th, Kenny Owens had his best inning of the day going 1-2-3 and striking out the side.  Uneventful until the bottom of the 7th inning, Chris Ridl led off with a double down the left field line then advanced to third on a ground ball. Leadoff hitter, Nick Gilmore watched a ball go by then drove the next pitch to left-center field for his first hit of the day, scoring Ridl. After Rob watched a trio of pitches, the eight-year Ranger vet Nick Gilmore took the opportunity to swipe second base earning him his first Dayton Ranger franchise record with 111 stolen bases.

 

With the top of the 8th, Kenny started off by hitting Zack Gomia. Zack quickly stole second and third, scoring on an errant throw to third base narrowing the lead by one. Kenny stayed strong striking out hall of famer Jerel Bristol and making his way out of the inning. The Rangers tacked on a few insurance runs in the bottom of the 8th with a Markus Neff homerun scoring himself and Cooper Nolte. The save opportunity went to Brandon Saylor who was attempting to earn his first save of the year. On the very first pitch of the inning, Saylor induced a ground ball to Cooper Nolte and then struck out two more batters earning his first save in only 11 pitches. The Ranger took the W 6-3.