Rangers Tie Season Series with Halos

      The Rangers have their first winning streak of the season as they improved their league record to 5-6 by defeating the Dayton Angels 8-7 Tuesday night.

      Matt Sparks started for the Rangers and Greg Perkins took the hill for the Halos in what appeared to be a rematch of last Thursday night’s game. The story, in the end, had a much happier ending for the Rangers this time.

      The Rangers played error-free ball for the first time all season and got some much needed support from shortstop Jonmarc Lippincott. Lippincott had 7 assists on the night and took part in 37% of the Angels’ outs. Sparks picked up his first victory of the season despite giving up 7 runs on 14 hits.

      The Angels got on the board in the top of the first on back-to-back hits from Greg Perkins and Justin Newlen. But the Rangers put a 5-spot together in the bottom of the inning as the first 6 batters reached base. The Rangers got two more runs in the 4th with the help of an RBI triple off the bat of Joe Staten who eventually scored on a wild pitch. The Angels snuck back in the ballgame with one in the 5th and 2 in the 6th to cut the Rangers lead to 7-5. Jacob Robinson started off the 6th with a double to left and went to third on an errant throw. Aaron Armstrong drove Robinson end with a groundout to third. That run proved crucial in the end as the Angels comeback fell just a bit short.

      Joe Staten and Clint Wolf were each 3-4 on the night. Staten, Armstrong, Scott Sundermeyer, Matt Hood, and James Robinson each had RBIs.

RANGERS "MARKS"

OFFENSE
Jacob Robinson – leadoff double in the 6th to score much needed insurance run
Joe Staten – 3 hits, including RBI triple in the 4th

Clint Wolf – 2 stolen bases and 3 hits.

DEFENSE
Clint Wolf – hit cutoff man which led to a runner being thrown out at the plate

Matt Sparks – didn’t walk a batter until the 7th, kept giving the defense opportunities to make plays

Jonmarc Lippincott – 7 assists and 3 putouts, nice defensive play up the middle to rob a base hit.