Laramie Prep falls to Titans

Richard Anderson photos
At top, Craig Welniak gets ready on deck as teammate Tommy Johnson bats Saturday against the Rocky Mountain Titans at Cowboy Field. At bottom, Laramie coach Armando Casas talks to catcher Kevin Dooley between innings.

Rangers come up short in opener

By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

Too many times when a team drops a heartbreaker in the first game of a doubleheader, they come out flat in the nightcap.

The Laramie Rangers prep baseball team did just that Saturday at Cowboy Field, falling to the Rocky Mountain Titans, 11-9 and 13-3.

Laramie led 8-3 after five innings, but gave up three runs in the top of the sixth and five more in the top of the seventh. The Rangers tried to come back in the bottom of the seventh, loading the bases with no outs, but could manage just one run.

The opening loss wasted an outstanding pitching performance by Abel Casas, who gave just three runs in five innings of work. Laramie, however, couldn’t hold the lead behind a pair of relievers and came up short.

“Pitching is the key to every game at every level,” Laramie manager VerDon Hoopes said. “We got five great innings from Abel, then struggled in relief. We couldn't hit spots, walked too many and is the case, often when that happens, it snowballs into trouble.”

Laramie had seven hits in the first game, with Dylan Watson knocking in a pair of runs and Kevin Dooley adding an RBI.

In the second game, Rocky Mountain scored five runs in the first two innings and never looked back. Titans pitcher Chris Davis threw a no-hitter at the Rangers, although Laramie was able to score three runs.

“In the second game, we were no hit by a confident Titans team,“ Hoopes said. “We hit better than that, just good hits going at Titan defenders.”

Despite the two losses, Hoopes said there were some positives coming out of their defensive effort, especially in the first five innings of the opener.

“We caused two rundowns, which we executed perfectly," he said. “We had three errors in the two games and had a lot of nice plays with good reaction and decisions.”

The Rangers Prep team returns to action June 11 against the Fort Collins Hawks in Fort Collins.
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(Game 1)
TITANS 11, RANGERS 9
Rocky Mountain Titans 200 103 5 -- 11 10 5
Laramie Rangers Prep 004 400 1 -- 9 7 2
Losing pitcher -- Dylan Watson; Winning pitcher -- Barry Hull
Laramie hitting -- Tyler Loose 1b; Alex Jordan 1b; Kevin Dooley 1b, RBI; Dylan Watson 1b, 2RBI; Casey Stangle 1b; Brady Olson 1b; Tyler Warren 1b.
Rocky Mountain hitting -- Jordan 1b; Tomaski 3b, 2b, 1b; Hull 2b; Sage 1b, 1b.
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(Game 2)
TITANS 13, RANGERS 3
Rocky Mountain Titans 410 233 -- 13 10 0
Laramie Rangers Prep 000 210 -- 3 0 1
Losing pitcher -- Alex Jordan; Winning pitcher -- Chris Davis
Rocky Mountain hitting -- Jordan 1b; Blazier 3b; Tomaski 1b; Davis 2b, 1b, 1b; Komar 3b; Hull 1b; Tomisino 1b; Hummerdarfer 1b; Justin 1b