Rangers Shutout Royals, 3-0

  The Dayton Rangers played stellar defense and got an outstanding pitching performance from rookie Brad Clark to shut down the Royals offense in a 3-0 win Sunday afternoon. The shutout was the first one posted by a Rangers starter since a 6-0 victory on July 21, 2004 when Scott Pollak threw a two-hitter against the Beavercreek Sox.

      The Rangers tallied the first run of the game in the bottom of the second. Catcher Brent Collinsworth reached on a base hit and took second on a wild pitch. Jared Bradley replaced Collinsworth at second and scored on a two-out single to right off the bat of second baseman Jelani Arnold.

Jeremy Lippincott led off the Rangers’ fourth inning with an infield single and promptly stole second base. Jacob Robinson laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to move Lip to third. Jeremy then scored on a slow chopper to third. The final run came in the next inning as Jeremy Cunningham singled, stole second, and scored on a base hit by Jonmarc Lippincott.

Brad Clark silenced the Royals’ bats as he scattered just four hits on the day, striking out two and not walking a batter. Clark improves his league record to 4-0 on the season and dropped his ERA to 3.86 with his third complete game.

The Rangers defense stepped up for the first time this year. Third baseman James Robinson put in several backhanded web gems that thwarted many base hit opportunities for the Royals. Brother Jacob made a nice diving snag in left to prevent Daniel Losito from getting a hit. Clark induced 19 ground ball outs, including one double play, as the Rangers’ infield hung tough with the usually stingy Howell Field turf.

Jonmarc Lippincott and Clint Wolf each had a pair of hits for the Rangers. Clint added a triple to the stat sheet as well.