Rangers End Regular Season with 19-6 record

On Sunday, August 22, the Rangers took a pair of games from the Warren County Shockers to finish the regular season with a 19-6 record overall, and 12-1 record in the Miami Division. The 19 wins are the most victories during the regular season without regards to forfeit wins. (In 1998, the Rangers finished the regular season with a 22-13 record, but had 4 forfeit wins.)

The Rangers walked off with a 7-6 win in the first game as Shawn Schmitt picked up his fourth straight complete game victory in improving his record to 6-2 on the season. In doing so, Shawn surpassed 500 career innings pitched. In game two, Ben Schooler picked up his first career win on the mound, and Jelani Arnold tied a Rangers record with his 3^rd career save in a 14-6 win in game two.

The Shockers jumped out early on Schmitt in game one as leadoff batter Chad Paden doubled on an 0-2 pitch. Taylor Hause then singled to score Paden to give the Shockers a quick 1-0 lead. The Shockers made it 2-0 in the third as Scott Garrett doubled in Jonce Tackett. A Casey Middleton single and two fielding errors allowed the Shockers to put four more runs on the board in the top of the fourth. The Rangers mounted a comeback in the bottom of the fourth off Shockers starter Ben Schlater. With two outs, Aaron Armstrong walked with the bases loaded. Tim Sullivan then singled to left field to drive in two runs. Ben Schooler followed that up with an RBI double to right to cut the lead to 6-4.

Jonmarc Lippincott homered with two outs in the bottom of the fifth to keep the Rangers within striking distance. In the bottom of the sixth, Clint Wolf singled, went to second on a sacrifice bunt by Armstrong, and scored on Ben Schooler’s base knock to tie the game at 6-6. In the bottom of the seventh, Robert Riley walked with one out and went to third on Jake Kingsolver’s single. Lippincott then hit a sacrifice fly to deep right field to score Riley with the game-winner.

Game two started with the Rangers scoring 3 runs with two outs. Ben led off with a walk. Riley singled. Kingsolver hit a two-run double. Lippincott had an RBI single to give the Rangers a quick 3-0 advantage. Chad Paden once again led off with a double for the Shockers and scored on a double by Garrett. In the third inning, the Rangers put together 4 hits and a walk, but could only get one run across on a Riley single to make it 4-1. The Rangers added another run in the top of the 6^th on an RBI single by Lippincott. Schooler ran into a little trouble in the bottom of the sixth as Paden doubled for the fourth time on the day and scored on a Garrett sac fly. Josh Allen doubled in Taylor Hause to make it 5-3. Catcher James Robinson then took a foul ball off the knee cap and had to be carried off the field. With the only catcher available being the starting pitcher, Schooler relieved Robinson behind the plate, and Jelani Arnold stepped in to help out on the mound. Arnold gave up an RBI triple to Thomas Fluty to cut the Rangers lead to one, but got out of the jam without giving up the lead.

The Rangers broke the game wide open in the top of the seventh as the team batted around and scored 9 runs to take a 14-4 lead. Shawn Schmitt tripled to start off the inning. Tim Sullivan singled Schmitt home. Ben reached on a fielder’s choice. Joe Staten drove in a run. Clint Wolf singled in two runs. Jake Kingsolver singled in another. Lippincott added another sacrifice fly. Jelani tripled in a run. Then Shawn Schmitt launched a two-run home run to complete the scoring in the frame, It was Shawn’s first longball since 2002.

Offensive highlights: Jonmarc Lippincott, 4-for-5, HR, 2 runs, 5RBI, 2 sac flies, BB; Ben Schooler 3-for-7, double, 2 runs, 4RBI, BB; Clint Wolf 4-for-7, 3 runs, 2RBI; Robert Riley 3-for-5, 4 runs, RBI, 3 BB; Jake Kingsolver 4-for-7, 3 runs, 3RBI, double, BB; Tim Sullivan 2-for-6, 3RBI; Jelani Arnold 2-for-7, RBI, double, triple.

Historical Notes: Shawn Schmitt’s 30 career league wins places him in a tie (with Rob Hoover) for second most in MVABL history. Shawn is 10 Ks shy of 500 career strikeouts. Shawn is 2 games shy of pitching in 100 career games. Jake Kingsolver needs 7 more runs scored to reach 200 career, and 1 more double to reach 50 career.