Rangers Sweep Thunder in Semis

The Dayton Rangers knocked off the Miami Valley Thunder 5-2 and 10-8 in the MVABL semifinals to advance to the championship series for the first time since 2003.

The Rangers started rookie Jonathan Silverman in game one and Jonathan had one of his best outings this season. Silverman gave up four hits in the first inning, including an RBI single to Thunder catcher Drew York, and suddenly was looking at a 2-0 deficit. But that’s pretty much all the offense the Thunder could muster as Silverman gave up only one more hit the rest of the way, recording a career-high 13 strikeouts. The 13Ks were the most in a game by a Rangers pitcher since Shawn Schmitt had that many in a game in 2004.

One of the storylines of the game pitted brother against brother. For the first time ever, the Rangers’ Jonmarc Lippincott got the opportunity to face his brother Jeremy, Thunder’s game one starter, in an official baseball game. Younger brother Jeremy might have got the best of his older brother by getting him to go 0-for-3, but Jonmarc didn’t go out quietly. “I crushed the ball all three times. Unfortunately, David Moss (Thunder third basemen) wanted to act like Brooks Robinson and dove all over the field to rob me,” said Jonmarc. Part two of the story comes later.

Jacob Robinson led off the Rangers first inning with a triple over the center fielder’s head. Steve Marshall followed up with an RBI single to cut the Thunder lead in half at 2-1. Thunder starter Jeremy Lippincott looked sharp but fell into trouble with a couple of two-out hits. In the third inning, Brandon Howard laced a bases-loaded two-out single to left field that plated Jacob Robinson with the tying run. Steve Marshall scampered around from second and barely slid across the plate safely on a bang-bang play at home to give the Rangers a 3-2 lead. With two outs in the fourth, Jelani Arnold and Jared Bradley each singled, followed up by a walk to Jacob. Steve Marshall then punched a 2-run single to left, his third hit of the day, to plate Arnold and Bradley. The Thunder, however, had no answer for Silverman as he was able to strike out 5 of the final 7 batters he faced to record his seventh win of the season.

Brad Clark started game two for the Rangers and didn’t get much help from the defense in the bottom of the first. With a pair of errors, sandwiched between a two-run double from Drew York, the Thunder jumped out to an early 3-0 lead. In the second inning, Brandon Howard walked and Jonmarc Lippincott was hit by a pitch. With two outs and two strikes, Jelani Arnold did a little AT&T action and reached out and touched a fastball to bloop a single into center to score Howard. Lippincott raced around third and scored as the relay throw back to the infield was bobbled. Matt Shepherd singled in James Hammock for a 4-2 Thunder advantage in the second. The Rangers tied the game at 4 on an RBI single from Clint Wolf and a sac fly from Jake Kingsolver. The Rangers batted around in the fourth. Robert Riley reached on a walk. Jelani reached on a fielding error. Riley scored the go-ahead run on a passed ball. James Robinson walked and Aaron Armstrong grounded out to shortstop to plate Jelani. Jacob Robinson followed with a single to score James, and Jacob stole second, went to third on the throw and later scored on a wild pitch. With an 8-4 lead, the Rangers thought they had a comfortable lead. However, the Thunder sent 9 batters to the plate in the bottom half of the inning. John Ramsey singled in a run, and David Moss singled in two, as the Thunder re-tied the game at 8-8 after four innings. Jelani Arnold, who was hit by a pitch in the fifth, came around to score on a throwing error to give the Rangers a 9-8 lead.

Clark induced two ground ball outs to start the fifth, Here’s where part two of the story continues. Jonmarc relieved Brad to face his brother Jeremy. And once again, Jeremy got the best of his older sibling as he stroked a line drive between short and third for a base hit. Brad then re-entered to get a ground ball out to preserve the lead. Brandon Howard was called upon to slam the door shut for the Rangers. The Thunder attempted their comeback in the sixth as Matt Shepherd singled to start off the inning. After a flyball out, reigning league MVP Drew York stepped up to the plate. Not wanting to put the winning run on base, the decision was made to take their chances and pitch to York. But when Shepherd stole second, the game plan changed, and with an open base, York was walked intentionally. Both runners then proceeded to steal a base, putting the tying run at third and the winning run at second. Howard then jammed Evan Koogler with a pitch, causing a short blooper passed the pitcher that first baseman Jonmarc Lippincott dove and caught, keeping the runners at bay. Howard then got David Moss to pop out just in front of the fencing on the first baseline to get out of the jam. The Rangers added an insurance run in the seventh as Jelani Arnold tripled over the right fielder’s head with two outs, and then came around to score on a wild pitch to give the Rangers a 10-8 lead. With runners at first and second and one out in the bottom of the seventh, Howard was able to induce a 5-3 double play to end the game and pick up his first career save. Brad Clark picked up his seventh win of the year.

The Rangers now advance to the championship series on Saturday, September 19 to face the winner of the Slammers/Royals series. The Rangers lost to the Ohio Woodpeckers in the 2003 championship game. Prior to that, the Rangers came out of the loser’s bracket in 2000 to beat the Reds in the first game of the championship series, only to fall in the decisive game two.

Offensive highlights: Jacob Robinson 2-for-4, 4 runs, RBI, triple, 3 BB, SB; Steve Marshall 4-for-7, 2 runs, 3RBI; Clint Wolf 2-for-4, RBI, double, SB; Jelani Arnold 3-for-6, 4 runs, RBI, triple, BB, SB; Brandon Howard 1-for-4, 2RBI, 3 BB; Jake Kingsolver 1-for-3, RBI, sac, 3 BB, SB

Historical notes: Jake Kingsolver is 2 hits shy of 200 for his career. Jelani Arnold has recorded his second 10-game hitting streak of the season.