Wolf and York Belt 2 HR in DH Split

  The Rangers got a look at the revamped Woodpeckers offense on Sunday. The Woodpeckers were riding a three-game winning streak as the traveled west to Preble Shawnee in a twinbill with the Rangers, winners of four out of their last five games.

Game one looked to be a pitcher’s duel early on as the Rangers’ Brad Clark paired up against the Woodpeckers TJ Lee. The Rangers got on the board first in the third inning. Lee started off the inning well, striking out the first two batters, but walked Jacob Robinson before Jonmarc Lippincott reached on an errant throw to first. Clint Wolf then stepped up and launched a 3-run HR to straight away center for a 3-0 Rangers advantage. Lee struck out seven in his 3-plus innings of work. The Rangers tacked on one more in the top of the fifth as Lippincott doubled off the fence in left to drive in Jim Brown for a 4-0 score.

The Woodpeckers then found new life in the bottom of the fifth as three Rangers’ errors produced four unearned runs. Lee Jury and Chad Lowe had RBI singles in the frame. The nail in the coffin came in the bottom of the sixth as the Woodpeckers put up 7 runs with two outs, including a monster blast by catcher Drew York. Matt Heck and Lowe each had run-scoring doubles as well to give the Woodpeckers the come-from-behind victory, 11-5.

The Woodpeckers continued their aggressive hitting to start of game two. Drew York powered another 3-run shot, his league-leading 7^th of the season, in the top of the first en route to an early 4-0 lead. The Rangers then took advantage of a depleted Woodpeckers pitching staff as five of the first six batters reached on walks. The only non-walk came from Clint Wolf who hit his second 3-run homerun of the day to right-center, his 5^th longball of the season. James Robinson singled in the final run of the first inning to give the Rangers a 6-4 lead. The Rangers would eventually pick up 13 walks in game 2. The Rangers picked up a run in the third as Jim Brown grounded into a double play, allowing Brandon Howard to score. Clint Wolf scored on a wild pitch and Joe Staten drove in a run in the fourth for a 9-4 Rangers lead. The Woodpeckers got one run in the top of the sixth as Chad Lowe doubled for the third time on the day to plate Matt Heck. The Rangers scored six more in the sixth inning. Clint doubled in a run, Joe and Brandon each hit sac flies, and James Robinson singled in a run for a final score of 15-5.

Offensive highlights: Clint 7-for-7, 7RBI, 5 runs, 3 SB, 2 HR, 2b; Jacob Robinson 1-for-3, 3 runs, 4 BB; Jonmarc Lippincott 2-for-5, 4runs, RBI, 2 BB; James Robinson 4-for-7 2RBI; Jelani Arnold 3-for-4, 2 runs, 3 BB; Joe Staten 1-for-5 3RBI.

Historical notes: Jake is 1 strikeout away from 5^th place on the all-time MVABL leaderboard. Jake has won five straight decisions and is three wins away from tying the franchise single season mark held by Shawn Schmitt (9) in 2003. Jonmarc is 1 RBI short for 300 career RBIs. Clint’s five homeruns in a season is the most since he hit 8 in 2002. If Clint gets a hit in each of his next two plate appearances, he will break the all-time Rangers mark of consecutive hits (8) currently held by Jonmarc Lippincott and Ethan Goetz (who did it twice).