Sun. 8/16/2015
Games 23, 24
Rangers 15, Knights 3,
8 innings
The Rangers played a rare split doubleheader on Sunday, August 16, facing the Wright Knights at Howell Field before venturing over to Belmont high school to square off with the Wild Boars in a rain make-up game.
The offense continued to pile on runs, scoring in double-digits for the 6th straight contest and the 16th overall this season. In the first game, the Rangers defeated the Knights 15-3 in 8 innings. In game two, the Rangers won 15-5 over the Boars.
Todd Peck got the call to start the first game and earned his first career win, going 5 strong innings, allowing 5 hits, 2 earned runs, striking out 5. Ryan Meinert allowed 1 hit in the final 3 innings to register the save.
Both the Knights and Rangers went out fairly quiet in the first two innings. In the bottom of the third, Phil Dickerson led off with a double and scored on a single by Nick Gilmore. Nick scored on Jonmarc Lippincott’s hit-and-run single to right to make it 2-0. Two batters later, Robert Riley plated Lippincott for a 3-run advantage.
The Knights cut into the lead with two runs in the fifth. The Rangers provided some added cushion in the bottom of the sixth, scoring 4 times to take a 7-2 lead. Robert singled with one out and stole second. Joe Staten singled him home, and Ben Schubert followed win a run-scoring triple. Peck grounded out to score Schubert. Kody Barth walked and later scored on a throwing error.
The Knights got another run back on an RBI single from Jeremy Bristol to make it 7-3. But the Rangers answered in the bottom of the seventh with an RBI single from Robert and an RBI double from Staten.
In the bottom of the eighth, the Rangers first six batters reached base and scored to force the run-rule. Gilmore walked with the bases loaded to score the first run of the inning. Barth then stole home. Lippincott singled home Dickerson. Robert smacked his fourth hit of the day to drive in the final two runs.
Rangers 15, Wild Boars 5, Game 2
After a two-hour break and a trip across town, the Rangers continued their afternoon against the Boars.
The Rangers put up a six-spot in the bottom of the first inning. Joe Staten had a sac fly to score the first run. Phil Dickerson drilled a 2-run double (his 100th career RBI), and Nick Gilmore had an RBI single in the frame. The Boars answered with a 2-run home run from Matt Fondriest to make it 6-2.
The Rangers got one of the runs back in the bottom of the second on a towering home run from Staten, a shot that nearly toppled a tree in right center field. An RBI single from Meade Tabata in the third made it 7-3.
Barth led off the bottom of the third with his third HR of the season. After an error plated another run, Brandon Riley had a sac fly to increase the lead to 10-3. The Rangers added three more runs in the fourth to make it 13-3.
After the top of the sixth inning, the Rangers lead dwindled to 13-5. Two more runs came across in the bottom of the inning, capped by Gilmore’s 3rd double of the game, and 4th double of the day.
Joe Becker struck out five in the complete game effort to move to 7-1 on the season.
Offensive highlights: Robert Riley 4-5, 2R, 4RBI, SB; Joe Staten 3-6, 3R, 4RBI, double, HR, sac; Kody Barth 2-4, 5R, HR, SB, 4BB; Phil Dickerson 4-6, 5R, 3RBI, 2 doubles; Nick Gilmore 5-7, 3R, 5RBI, 4 doubles, SB.
Historical Notes: Phil Dickerson recorded his 100th RBI of his career.