Taking advantage of Laramie’s pitching woes, Cheyenne Post 6 swept a conference doubleheader against the Rangers in Cheyenne Tuesday.

Post 6 won the opener, 14-8, and took the nightcap of the twin bill, 13-3, in six innings at Powers Field.

Laramie (29-24, 2-2) had their six-game win streak end.

Rangers’ manager Brandon Ruckman said they weren’t sharp on the mound.

“Just had a lot of walks, wild pitches, passed balls, weren’t really focused on dominating the ball and just letting them hit the ball, let them put the ball in play. We were trying to do a little too much, I thought, trying to hit the corners too much. I mean they are a good hitting team, and you kind of want to stay away from the middle of the plate, but you can’t give 17 extra bases (walks) and expect to win a doubleheader.”

Ruckman added it was frustrating because he’s seen good performances out of the players that threw against Cheyenne, but admitted it wasn’t their day.

Laramie got off to a good start in game one thanks to Reid Baty’s 3-run home run in the first to deep left field. It was his 10th of the season. Post 6 responded with four runs in the second and took the lead for good. That happened because of four walks, two passed balls, three wild pitches and an RBI-triple. Cheyenne added five runs in the third for a 9-3 lead.

The Rangers scored once in the fourth and fifth and cut it to 9-5, but Post 6 scored five straight before a small Laramie rally in the seventh. Caleb Eaton had an RBI-single before Baty smacked a two-run home run, his 11th, to left field for the final margin.

Baty, Eaton and Blake Moore combined for six of the Rangers seven hits. Baty drove in six of the eight runs. Logan Pickard started and lasted just two batters into the third inning. He gave up six runs on one hit. Pickard walked six, had three wild pitches and only two strikeouts.

The Laramie staff had 10 walks in the second game. Cheyenne jumped out to a 5-1 lead. The Rangers trimmed it to 5-3 on a David Coulthard RBI-double and a wild pitch led to a second run in the third. Post 6 kept up their offensive onslaught, as they scored at least one run in each inning. Cheyenne closed it out thanks to the 10-run mercy rule after a two-run double in the sixth.

Reston Morehouse took the loss on the mound. He started and went two and one-third innings, but threw 94 pitches. He allowed seven runs, six earned, on nine hits. Morehouse also walked five. Ramon Gomez tossed three innings in relief, but he also walked five. Gomez allowed six runs on three hits.

Offensively, Coulthard and Will Yates had two hits apiece, but Laramie finished with only six hits.

The Rangers had a combined 16 strikeouts between the two games.

Ruckman added, “I’m not extremely disappointed (in the outcome). I am disappointed we didn’t get a split, but at the end of the day hopefully, we can get two against Gillette and still get that number two seed.”

He feels one or two wins would help them get a higher seed as they jockey for position in the state tournament bracket. He believes they’d have a better matchup as a two seed versus a three seed at state.

Laramie will host the Gillette Roughriders in their final regular season and home games this season on Saturday, July 21 at Cowboy Field. The twin bill starts at 4 p.m. KOWB will broadcast both games live.

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