Xenia Alum Drive in 7 in 15-3 Win

Former Xenia Buccaneers Jonmarc Lippincott, Clint Wolf, and Jake Kingsolver revisited their old stomping grounds at XHS on Sunday, April 18 and felt right at home, as the Dayton Rangers knocked off the South Dayton Slammers 15-3 in 7 innings.

   Jonathan Silverman got the rare back-to-back start in hopes that his offensive support would improve after a sluggish Opening Day. Silverman held up his end of the bargain tossing five scoreless innings, striking out 11. The Rangers offense sputtered for the first two innings against Slammers’ lefty Deane Grandfield. Shane Fallen singled to start the third and was followed up by a single from Silverman. Tim Sullivan’s grounder to third was thrown away, allowing Jonathan to score the first run of the ballgame. Aaron Armstrong then singled in Sullivan to make it 2-0. Steve Marshall reached on a fielder’s choice and scored on an opposite field double by rookie Ben Schooler. Clint followed with a double of his own, his 50^th career double in the league. Jake Kingsolver singled in Wolf to give the Rangers a 5-0 lead after three innings. James Robinson doubled and scored on an errant throw later in the fourth inning to make it 6-0.

The floodgates opened in the top of the fifth as the 11b hitter Joe Staten launched a solo home run to center to start the inning. Kingsolver’s dribbler back to the mound scored Steve Marshall, who doubled earlier, to make it 8-0. Jonmarc Lippincott then roped a chin-high fastball over the left field fence for a two-run home run and a 10-0 lead. This was Lippincott’s first home run since 2004.

   The Slammers got on the board in the 6^th as Kevin Ashworth doubled off Rangers’ reliever Ben Schooler. Deane Grandfield then singled to center field to drive in Ashworth. The Rangers added on five more runs in the 7^th inning. Wolf doubled in two more runs. Jelani Arnold added an RBI single. James punched a 2-run double, his third double of the afternoon. The Slammers got an RBI double from Greg Marlow, who also later scored on a passed ball to make the final score 15-3.

Offensive highlights: Jonmarc Lippincott 3-3, HR, 2 runs, 2RBI, BB; Clint Wolf 3-4, 2 doubles, triple, SB, 3 runs, 3RBI; James Robinson 3-4, 3 doubles, 2RBI; Ben Schooler 2-3, double, 2 runs, RBI; Steve Marshall 2-3, 3 runs, double; Joe Staten 1-1, HR, RBI; Jelani Arnold 2-4, RBI; Jake Kingsolver 1-3, 2RBI.

Historical Notes: Jonmarc is one run shy of 300 scored in the league. Jake’s RBI single in the third was his 200^th career hit as a Ranger. Clint surpassed 200 RBIs in the league with his 7^th inning double. James doubled in his 600^th career at-bat and is 2 RBI shy of 100 for his career. James tied a Rangers record with 3 doubles in one game (Reis and Joe also did it). Joe picked up his 10^th career home run and is 1 RBI short of 100 career RBIs. Joe needs 5 more runs scored for 100 in his career.