Rangers Run out of Gas, Fall to Slammers 16-9

On a great afternoon for baseball, the Rangers finally got the opportunity to place at Xenia high school, but had to deal with a streaking Slammers team who were starting the season on a 4-game winning streak.

The Rangers got to Slammers starter Jeff Beall in the top of the fourth as Jonmarc Lippincott doubled with one out and scored on a 2-out double by rookie Ian Huss. But the Slammers would answer in the bottom of the inning on a 2-run HR by Jason Jamerson. The Rangers regained the lead in the top of the fourth on an RBI single from Zach Carroll and an RBI double from Ben Schooler. The game was tied at 4-4 at the end of four innings after a pair of two-out RBI hits from Michael Galaska and Kevin Ashworth of the Slammers.

The Rangers added three more runs in the top of the fifth as Jelani Arnold homered with a man on, and Huss followed suit with a back-to-back blast. However, Rangers starter Shawn Schmitt ran into trouble in the bottom of the fifth as the Slammers proceeded to bat around, scoring five times to retake the lead at 9-7. The Slammers broke the game wide open in the 6^th as they batted around again, scoring 7 times. The Slammers went to their ace Sean Casey for the final three frames, and the Rangers could only muster 2 runs for a final score of 16-9.

Offensive highlights: Ian Huss 3-for-5, 2 doubles, HR, 2RBI; Jonmarc Lippincott 3-for-3, double, 2 runs, BB; Jelani Arnold 2-for-5, HR, 2RBI.

Historical Notes: James Robinson is 1 RBI shy of 100 league RBIs. Jonmarc needs 1 more hit for 500 career league hits. Jonmarc’s walk in the third inning was his 200^th walk in the MVABL. The team is 53 hits away from 5000 franchise hits, and 4 HRs away from 300 franchise dingers.