Laramie Rangers Season Ends in Sheridan to Host

The 2015 American Legion baseball season came to an end Thursday for the Laramie Rangers. They lost to the Sheridan Troopers, 13-5, at the state tournament.

For a second straight game Laramie’s inability to get their offense going plagued them.

Rangers’ manager Brandon Ruckman agreed by saying that’s what it was.

“Couldn’t get those timely hits and unfortunately we made some errors early that got the morale of the club down a little bit early, which was something we were trying to avoid.”

He also gave credit to the opponent.

“Sheridan made some great plays out there and kind of kept us from scoring.”

Laramie took a 2-0 lead in the first. Kacey Bernaski singled home Harrison Yates with one out. Joseph Legerski drove in the second run with a sacrifice fly.

The Troopers answered with four runs and took the lead for good. Two Ranger errors led to three unearned runs. Sheridan built a 10-2 lead before Laramie scored again, but the Troopers match it each time.

Sheridan took advantage of four Rangers’ errors and eight walks.

Laramie finished with only nine hits, which included three by Bernaski. Marshall Stuart suffered the loss on the hill.

Ruckman added, “I think if we would have made some plays on defense that might have changed the whole outcome of it. Like I said, when you make those errors early, it just changes the way everything’s done.”

The Rangers went 1-2 in the 2015 Wyoming ‘AA’ American Legion Baseball State Tournament. They finish the season with a 22-25 overall record.

Ruckman admitted it was tough to come in on short notice and have to go through all the adjustments of a new direction.

“My goals was .500, so we fell short a little bit of that, but overall we had a good season. I felt like I got the trust of the kids, and it was a fun season.”

Laramie will return nine players with experience next season.

“They’re going to be young. There’s a couple of good leaders in the mix," said Ruckman. "If they can work on the consistency issues defensively, hit the weights in the off-season and build up some strength, which I felt we were lacking on this year. If we can do that, I think next year should be a good, solid year.”

This was the Rangers first year back in ‘AA’ after spending the last three in ‘A’ legion baseball in Wyoming.