Rangers Prep thumps Hawks

By Richard Anderson
Wyomingsports.org

Sometimes in sports, it’s not the mistake you make that is the problem; it’s how you react to the mistake.

For the Laramie Rangers Prep baseball team, Thursday night’s game against the Fort Collins Hawks was all about how the Rangers would react -- to Monday’s drubbing against Cheyenne Prep.

The Rangers reacted quite well, stopping the Hawks 17-10 at Cowboy Field. The win moved Laramie to 2-4 on the season. On Monday, the Rangers fell to Cheyenne 19-0 and 10-0.

“Monday night was a beating,” Rangers Prep manager VerDon Hoopes said. “They took it pretty hard. We had a long talk about what is our purpose or what is our goal here. That is to just get better all of the time, keep improving and prepare for the future. It’s starting with this 13- and 14-year-old deal. We played against a Cheyenne team that has had a lot of experience and they took it to us pretty good.

“But the kids came out and probably had their two best practices of the year on Tuesday and Wednesday and really got after it like nothing had happened on Monday. That was a good positive. The way they responded tonight was a lot of fun.”

The Rangers jumped out early, leading 13-1 and 17-4 before the Hawks came back a little in the final couple of innings. Laramie had nine players with hits in the game.

“They made a few errors, but we did some things, like a nice suicide squeeze in the second inning to get our first run. Things just got going from there,” Hoopes said. “They had a lot of good hits tonight. Some of the kids hit the ball into outs, but they made good contact.”

Craig Welniak led the way offensively with a single and triple and two RBI, with Sam Feldman adding a pair of hits and an RBI. Brady Olson had two RBI in the game, with Casey Stangle and Dylan Watson both knocking in a run. Hunter Wick, Taylor Boggess, Tommy Johnson and Abel Casas all had one hit in the game as well.

Feldman was the winning pitcher, giving up four hits and one run in four innings.

Laramie will return to action Saturday with a doubleheader at Cowboy Field against the Longmont Vipors, beginning at noon.

“The field is getting green out here, finally,” Hoopes said. “It was a little chilly tonight, but at least we got to play. Longmont is right in the middle of the pack in league play, so there is no telling what they have. But they have to come up here and play on the big field, so that is always fun for us. We’re looking forward to it.”
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Rangers Prep 17, Fort Collins Hawks 10
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