Rangers Roll over Thunder in DH

        The Dayton Rangers took two games from the Miami Valley Thunder on Sunday, June 21st, winning the first game 20-6 and squeaking out the nightcap 9-8. The first ever meeting between brotherly coaches, Jonmarc Lippincott’s Rangers won the first two rounds of the three-game season series over brother Jeremy’s Thunder. And the Rangers had to do it without ailing center fielder Clint Wolf, who is still considered day-to-day with a knee injury.

        Game 1: Shawn Schmitt started for the Rangers and scattered five hits and five runs over five innings of work for the win, moving his record to 2-0 on the season. The Rangers got on the board first in the top of the first on a sac fly by Jake Kingsolver. The Thunder took the lead back in the bottom of the inning on a two-run single to left off the bat of Drew York.  The Rangers then answered with a six-spot in the second. Jelani Arnold, Jared Bradley, Jonmarc Lippincott had RBI singles. Steve Marshall added a two-run single, and rookie Brandon Howard belted a three-run home run to left center field to give the Rangers a 7-2 lead. Jelani drove in two more runs in the third and Jared added another RBI fielder’s choice to make it 10-2. A sac fly from Drew York made it 10-3.  Jacob Robinson and Steve had RBI singles in a three-run fifth to give the Rangers a 13-3 advantage. Rookie Matt Shepherd smashed a three-run home run in the bottom of the fifth for the Thunder to make it 13-6. The Rangers tacked on 7 more runs in the final two frames, keyed by an opposite field three-run homer by Jake Kingsolver, his second of the season, and 29th career MVABL blast.

        Game 2: A different story in the nightcap as the Rangers scored first, lost the lead in the top of the fifth, regained the lead in the bottom of the fifth and held on in the top of the seventh. Matt Wenzler started for the Rangers pitched five effective innings for the win, giving up five hits and five unearned runs, while striking out four. The Rangers started off game 2 with a run in the first as Brad Clark drove in Steve Marshall for a 1-0 score.  With the help of a couple of fielding miscues and RBI singles from Jelani and Steve, the Rangers took a 4-0 lead into the fourth. After reaching on a fielding error, Drew York eventually came around to score on a wild pitch to make it 4-1. The Thunder rattled off four more runs in the fifth with the help of two more fielding errors to take a 5-4 lead. The Rangers then gave Wenzler some more run support in the bottom of the fifth as Brandon tied the game with an RBI single to left to score Marshall. Shane Fallen then came up with the big hit for the Rangers with a two-out bases-loaded single to right to drive in two runs and give the Rangers back the lead at 7-5. The Rangers tacked on two more runs in the sixth as Aaron Armstrong singled in Jared and Marshall added a sac fly. With one out in the top of the seventh, the Thunder reeled off four singles, plating three runs. With the tying run at third and the winning run on first, reliever Brad Clark struck out the final batter of the game to earn his first career save as a Ranger.

        Offensive highlights: Steve Marshall 5-for-7, 4 runs, 5 RBI, 2b; Jonmarc Lippincott 3-for-5, 2 runs, 4 BB; Jake Kingsolver 2-for-3, 2 runs, 4RBI, HR; Brandon Howard 3-for-8, 3 runs, 4RBI, HR; Brad Clark 4-for-8, 2 runs; Shane Fallen 2-for-5, 3 runs, 2RBI; Jelani Arnold 3-for-6, 5RBI; Jared Bradley 3-for-6, 3 runs, 2RBI, SB.

        Historical notes: Jelani Arnold needs 4 more runs scored to reach the 100 plateau, and he needs 8 more hits to reach 100 hits in the league. Jonmarc recorded his 500th career hit with a single in the second inning of game one. James Robinson scored his 100th career run in the third inning of game one.  Shawn is one strikeout shy of 300 in the league and 400 overall, and 13 shy of the Astros’ Tony Walters for tops all-time in the MVABL.  The team is 15 hits shy of registering the club’s 4000th hit.