Rangers Bolt into First Place with Thunder Sweep

On Tuesday, August 17, the Rangers met up with the Miami Valley Thunder for a regularly scheduled 7-inning game at Rotary Park, and then finished an extra inning game that was tied at 12-12 back on June 27^th.

The Rangers squeaked out a 10-9 win in the first game as Shawn Schmitt picked up his third straight complete game victory in improving his record to 5-2 on the season.

The Rangers got to Thunder starter John Ramsey in the first inning as Ben Schooler hit the second pitch of the game over the center field fence for his first MVABL home run. The Thunder answered in the bottom of the first inning as Lee Jury and Andrew Verrett reached on some unruly hops to shortstop. Lance Berner then launched a three-run home run to right field that hit the top of the fence and skipped over to give the Thunder a 3-1 lead. John Connell’s grounder later in the inning scored Drew York for a 4-1 advantage at the end of the first inning.

Jonmarc Lippincott led off the second with a walk and went to third on Jelani Arnold’s single. With two outs, Aaron Armstrong singled to right to score Lippincott. Schooler then singled to plate Jelani and cut the Thunder lead to 4-3. The Rangers took the lead back in the top of the third as Robert Riley connected on his 7^th home run of the season. The Thunder tied the game at 5-5 in the bottom of the 3^rd as Drew York added a long ball of his own. The Rangers continued to add runs in the fourth inning as Schooler led off with a triple and scored on Joe Staten’s mammoth home run to right field, his 6^th HR of the season. Clint Wolf then hit his 7^th triple of the season, tying a career high. Wolf would later score on a double play ball to give the Rangers a 8-5 lead. The Rangers made it 9-5 in the fifth as Schooler drove in Arnold on a fielder’s choice, and made it 10-5 in the sixth as James Robinson’s single up the box score Robert Riley.

Schmitt pitched scoreless 4^th-5^th-6^th innings. Drew Bost tripled with one out in the bottom of the seventh. Shawn struck out Lee Jury and appeared to strike out Verrett looking, but did not get the called third strike. Somewhat rattled, Shawn walked Verrett and Berner to load the bases for Drew York. York then took an outside change-up deep into the Beavercreek night for a grand slam home run. Evan Koogler and James Hammock then singled putting the tying run at second base. But Shawn was able to get the next batter for his 9^th strikeout on the evening to give the Rangers a 1-run victory.

The two teams then picked up on the June 27^th continuation game in which both sides were tied 12-12 after 7 full innings. The Rangers started off the top of the 8^th with a double by Robert Riley, who went to third as the throw from the outfield eluded the second baseman. As the pitcher backed up the throw, the attempt to get Riley at third was overthrown and Riley scored the go-ahead run. Joe Staten then doubled, but was stranded at third. The Thunder now had their last chance to tie or win the game in the bottom of the inning. Shawn continued to pitch and got the first two batters out on groundballs. Evan Koogler then tripled to put the tying run at third with two outs. The Rangers then intentionally walked York. Shawn got Clint Sparks to ground out to first base to end the game.

Jason Sarver picked up the win despite not being in attendance. He was the pitcher of record at the end of the seventh inning when the game was stopped due to the time limit on June 27^th. Shawn Schmitt pitched a scoreless 8^th inning to pick up his first career save in 495 career innings pitched.

Offensive highlights: Ben Schooler 3-for-4, triple, HR, BB, SB, 2 runs, 3RBI; Joe Staten 1-for-4, HR, 2RBI; Clint Wolf 2-for-5, triple, 2 runs; Robert Riley 2-for-4, HR, 2 runs, 2RBI; Jelani Arnold 3-for-4, 2 runs; Aaron Armstrong 2-for-4, RBI.

Defensive highlights: Joe Staten climbed the first base fence to snag a foul ball in the sixth inning. Joe Staten and Shawn Schmitt combined on two great fielding plays in the 8^th inning of the continuation game to preserve the win.

Historical Notes: Joe Staten only had 9 career home runs coming into the season in 9 years….he’s hit 6 this year alone. Shawn Schmitt’s 29 career league wins places him third all-time in MVABL history. Joe Staten scored his 100^th league run on his home run in the fourth inning. Clint’s triple in the fourth gave him 23 extra base hits this year, tying his previous season high set in 2002. Clint had 2 hits giving him exactly 300 career league hits. Shawn is 5 innings shy of 500 career IP and 15 Ks shy of 500 career strikeouts. Shawn is 3 games shy of pitching in 100 career games.