Rangers Advance to Winner's Bracket Final

  On a day where poor playing conditions played a key factor in the outcome of the game, the Rangers were able to get a few more hops to go there way en route to a 6-3 win over the Dayton Astros on Tuesday night.

      Jacob Robinson took the mound for the Rangers and was outstanding on the hill. Jake scattered 6 hits over 9 innings and struck out 7 to improve his 2004 record to 4-2. Jake got some outstanding defense from shortstop Ethan Goetz, and Clint Wolf contributed with some great plays in center.

      The Astros took an early 1-0 lead in the first when Jonmarc Lippincott could not come up with a sharply hit groundball off the bat of Steve Louis, allowing Gregg Foster to score. But the Rangers came back in the top of the second to build a 4-1 advantage. Joe Staten and Clint Wolf led off with back-to-back doubles. Shawn Schmitt singled to move Clint to third. The Rangers then pulled off a double steal to allow Clint to score the second run of the inning. James Robinson hustled out a potential double play ball to plate Schmitt to make the score 3-1. The final run of the inning came around as Ethan Goetz singled in James.

      The Astros scored their second run of the night when Jeremy Campbell tripled to deep right center scoring Mikie Leach. The Rangers got 2 more insurance runs in the 7th. Brian Robinson tripled down the right field line to score Matt Hood, who had walked earlier. Ethan Goetz followed that hit with a base knock of his own to drive in the 6th and final run for the Rangers.

      After the Astros scored a run in the 8th to come within 3 runs, the Astros looked to put together a later rally in the ninth. Tony Walters was hit by a pitch to start off the ninth, but was abruptly doubled off when Mikie Leach lined out to Schmitt at second who then threw to first to complete the double play. Jacob Robinson walked the next batter, but got slugger Gregg Foster to fly out to deep center to end the ballgame.

      GAME NOTES: Ethan Goetz and Clint Wolf had multi-hit games. Brian Robinson hit his team high 4th triple of the season. Joe Staten doubled for the 8th time this year.