Rangers Win Regular Season Crown

For the first time since 2003, the Dayton Rangers were crowned regular season champions in the MVABL. The Rangers fought back to defeat the Kettering Royals 14-11 at Lebanon JHS on Sunday, August 23 to finish the regular season with an 18-5 record.

As is tradition for the Rangers on the final game of the regular season, Rangers coach Jonmarc Lippincott has a little fun with the lineup card. And since he forgot the deck of cards this year, he resorted to having the players put their own names wherever they wanted to on a first-come, first-serve basis. The players held up their end of the bargain, reaching base 28 times in the three-run victory.

Veteran Shawn Schmitt started for the Rangers and pitched well in five of six innings with a slight hiccup in the fifth, but failed to last long enough for the win. Brandon Howard relieved Schmitt with two outs in the sixth and worked into the ninth for his second win of the season. Brad Clark entered the ninth inning with two outs, bases juiced, and tying run on first base to throw one pitch and induce a groundout to register the save.

The Rangers scored first in the bottom of the second inning as Shane Fallen singled with one out, stole second and then scored on Robert Riley’s double. Two more Rangers runs came across in the third. Jonmarc reached on a single to center. Jacob Robinson reached on a fielding error. Clint Wolf then hit a two-out, two-run triple to right field for a 3-0 lead. In the meantime, shortstop Steve Marshall helped out defensively with 3 double plays in the first three innings. (The Rangers recorded 4 double plays on the day.)

The Royals’ Shawn Rudegeair singled in Tim Biedenharn in the fourth to cut the lead to 3-1. Jared Bradley and Shane Fallen had RBI singles to give the Rangers a 5-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth. The Royals got out of the inning when Rangers’ DH Aaron Armstrong lined out to first with the bases loaded, resulting in a triple play. The Royals took a 7-5 lead in the fifth as the Boys in Blue were able to push six runs across. The Royals increased their lead to 8-5 on a solo home run by Jason Holmberg in the sixth. The Rangers took advantage of two fielding miscues in the sixth inning to allow Brandon Howard to stroke a three-run home run to left field to tie the game at 8-8. James Robinson kept the inning going with a double and later scored on an RBI single by Fallen.

But in typical Royals-Rangers fashion, the game was tied in the top of the seventh as Clint Wolf dove for an out in centerfield, but the relay back to the infield was overthrown into the dugout allowing the runner from second to score. Howard forced three flyball outs in the top of the eighth to give the Rangers a chance to regain the lead. Jacob Robinson led off the bottom of the eighth with a double just out of the reach of a diving Frank Burgos in right field. Robinson came around to score the go-ahead run on wild pitches. With two outs, Jelani Arnold doubled and James Robinson followed with a walk. Jared Bradley singled in Arnold. And Shane Fallen singled in Robinson and Bradley. Shane later scored on a passed ball.

Going into the ninth, the Rangers held a 14-9 lead. Howard hit the first Royals batter and gave up a double to Brian Duffy. A groundout by Chris Jergens scored Biedenharn. Howard then was able to strike out Tim Peffley. However, the Royals still battled as Rudegeair and Burgos each singled and Mark Franklin worked a walk. With the bases full and the tying run on first, Lippincott turned to Brad Clark to finish the bleeding. And with one pitch, Clark induced a groundball to second to end the game.

Offensive highlights: Brandon Howard 2-for-4 HR, 3RBI; Clint Wolf 2-for-4 triple 2RBI; Jacob Robinson 2-for-4 double, 3 runs; Shane Fallen 4-for-4 4RBI, 2 runs, SB; Jelani Arnold 1-for-2, 2 runs, double, BB, HBP; James Robinson 1-for-3 double, 3 runs, BB; Jared Bradley 2-for-3, 2RBI, SB, BB.

Historical notes: Jake Kingsolver is 6 hits shy of 200 for his career. Clint Wolf is 2 RBIs away from 200 in league play and 1 double shy of 50 in MVABL play. Jonmarc is 4 runs shy of 300 career in the MVABL and is 1 walk short of 200 in league play. Brad’s second save this season ties him for the most saves in a season for a Ranger, last achieved by Jacob Robinson in 2007.