Rangers Sweep Thunder

The Dayton Rangers took a pair of games from the Miami Valley Thunder on Sunday, June 12 at Valley View high school winning 10-4 in the first game and 24-17 in the second.

Shawn Schmitt started game one and picked up his fourth straight win, going 7 innings, scattering five hits and striking out 10. The Thunder got on the board first however, as leadoff batter Chad Hobbs reached on an error and later scored to take a 1-0 lead. Jonmarc Lippincott started the bottom half of the inning with a walk and came around to score on a throwing error to tie the game 1-1 The Rangers took the lead in the third as Lippincott singled with one out. Zach Carroll was hit by a pitch and Ben Schubert blooped a single to load the bases. Robert Riley hit a sac fly to score Lippincott, and Jelani Arnold followed with an RBI single to give the Rangers a two-run cushion. The Thunder would pick up another unearned run in the fourth to cut the lead to one run. The Rangers got the run back in the bottom of the fourth as Shawn Schmitt doubled and scored on a throwing error.

An RBI single by rookie Andrew Noble gave the Rangers a 5-2 lead in the fifth, before the team broke the game open in the sixth, scoring five more times. Schmitt led off with his third double of the afternoon, and two batters later was driven in on a sac fly from Ben Schooler. Joe Schubert singled to start a new rally, and after a walk to Carroll, Joe’s son Ben singled him home. Robert Riley would later launch his first home run of the year to make it a 10-2 score. The Thunder would tack on two runs in their final at-bat with a 2-run single from Evan Koogler for a final tally of 10-4.

In game two, the Rangers started off the scoring as Ben Scubert singled home Zach Carroll for a 1-0 lead. Ben Schooler looked to continue his spotless pitching record, but ran into trouble in the bottom of the first as Hobbs was hit by a pitch, stole a pair of bases, and scored on a sac fly by Koogler. After a fielding error put Andrew Verrett on, Drew Bost would single Verrett home to give the Thunder the lead. The Rangers took back the lead in the top of the second on Carroll’s two-out two-run single. The Thunder however, tied it up at 3-3 as another fielding miscue with two outs allowed Sam Philips to score. James Robinson hit a sac fly to give the Rangers the lead once more in the third, and Brandon Riley singled and scored on a throwing error to give the Rangers a 5-3 advantage after three innings.

In the top of the fourth, with two outs, Robert Riley, Shawn Schmitt, and James Robinson would drive in runs to make it 10-3. John Connell launched his first of two home runs on the day in the fourth to chip away at the Rangers’ lead. Zach would walk for the second straight inning in the fifth and would score on a throwing error to get the run right back. Schooler would be taken out after five innings of work. Ben gave up two earned runs and struck out two on the day for the eventual win. But before Schooler was done for the day, the Rangers gave him some added insurance runs as the first 14 batters reached base in the top of the sixth inning. With a 24-4 lead, the Rangers looked to their bullpen, but evidently a down-but-not-out Thunder lineup decided that they wanted to bat around as well. So the Thunder batted around before recording their first out as well. Drew Bost hit a two-run HR, and Connell added a 3-run shot in the frame. Verrett added a 2-run HR for good measure in the final inning, as the Rangers avoided disaster with a 24-17 victory.

Offensive highlights: Zach Carroll 3-for-6, 5 runs, 5RBI, 4 walks, 3SB; Ben Schubert 5-for-8, 2 runs, 2RBI, 2 walks; Robert Riley 2-for-8, 3 runs, 5RBI, HR, sac; James Robinson 2-for-7, 2 runs, 5RBI, sac; Ben Schooler 2-for-4, 2 runs, 3RBI, 3 walks, SB, double; Shawn Schmitt 4-for-8, 5 runs, 2RBI, 3 doubles, SB; Andrew Noble 2-for-6, 3 runs, 2RBI, 3 walks; Brandon Riley 2-for-8, 4 runs, RBI; SB.

Historical Notes: James Robinson is 1 run shy of 100 in the league. Aaron Armstrong needs 2 more runs scored to reach 100 in the league. Shawn scored his 100^th career MVABL run. Shawn’s next official at-bat will be his 500^th as a Ranger. Shawn’s three doubles in game one tied a Rangers’ record held by four other people (Joe Staten, Reis Pearson, James Robinson, Jelani Arnold). Shawn’s 10K performance in game one was the fifth time he has reached that mark in a single game and his 9^th career double-digit outing. The 24 runs scored by the Rangers in game two were the most runs scored in a game since the Rangers won 24-14 over the Indians on June 7, 2009.