Rangers Shutout Dickinson To Open Dooley Oil Classic
Aidan Morris had three hits and drove in four runs to lead the Laramie Rangers to an 8-0 win over Dickinson, ND Thursday night at Cowboy Field.
Rangers’ pitchers Tyler Oppie and Caleb Eaton combined on the three-hit shutout, as Laramie opened its Dooley Oil Classic with a victory.
Laramie manager Aaron Lozano called it an all-around good performance.
“I think this was one of the more complete games that we’ve played as a ball club. I think, you know, there are still some opportunities that were missed, but all-in-all, a pretty complete game by our club.”
Laramie (9-20) took advantage of 13 walks issued by Roughriders pitchers. Six of those came in the fifth inning. With the bases loaded, Morris, Ramon Gomez, and Janson Adair drew a walk that forced in a run. It created the eight-run mercy rule in the tournament and the game ended.
Eaton started the game with a triple to deep left-center field. Morris brought him in with a single. Morris added a two-run single in the fourth and a bases-loaded walk in the fifth that plated another run.
Lozano said, despite being hurt, Aidan wanted to play.
“Aidan’s a gamer. You hear that term a lot, but even when Aidan’s banged up, he comes to the ballpark ready to play. He’s that guy that you try to take him out of the lineup, and he’s gonna have words with you about it. He’s never going to disrespect you, he’s never going to show you up, but he doesn’t want to come out of the ballgame either, and so we really appreciate him.”
After a 1-0 lead, the game remained tight until the fourth inning. The Rangers broke it open with four runs on three hits and a Dickinson error. They closed it out with three runs in the fifth.
Lozano was also pleased with the pitching performance his team got.
“One of the things we’ve been pointing to is pitching to contact. We really want these guys to keep those pitch counts low. As an example, Caleb Eaton gets out of tonight’s game in 29 pitches, which means, if we need him tomorrow (Friday), he’s available. Stuff like that is really huge. When we can get through a game with a couple of pitchers, keep pitch counts low, it keeps people available for the rest of the tournament.”
Laramie will play Torrington Friday night in their second game of the Dooley Oil Classic. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Cowboy Field.