Panther baseball goes 4-0 in week 7

RANGELY I The Rangely Panthers baseball team secured four wins last week in doubleheaders against Aspen and Cedaredge. In the home double-header against Aspen the Panthers were able to secure a game one win in five innings with a score of 16-2. Senior Keihlin Myers picked up his third win on the season from the mound as he went five innings while scattering four hits with six strikeouts and two walks. Myers only surrendered two runs on the day, with only one of the two runs being recorded as an earned run. 

Offensively, the Panthers were led by senior Byron Mackay with three hits in four at-bats and all three hits were doubles. Mackay also recorded three RBIs on the day. Sophomore Dalton LeBleu also added two doubles in the game for the Panthers. Junior Kevin Wren slugged one triple and drove in five RBIs in the game to lead the Panthers. Myers also added a triple and two walks while scoring twice for the Panthers.

The Panthers continued their hot hitting into game two as the Panthers jumped out to a 12-2 score through four innings. The Skiers used timely hits along with walks to score nine runs in the top of the fifth inning to avoid the 10-run mercy rule. The Skiers scored 18 runs in three innings to make the game 18-16 in favor of the Skiers going into the bottom of the seventh inning. Facing a loss, the Panther hitters came through huge in the bottom of the seventh to defeat the Skiers 19-18. 

The comeback began when senior Brent Cantrell was hit in the elbow with a pitch. Freshman Marcos Quintana then flew out to centerfield for the first out of the inning. LeBleu then popped out to the pitcher on the very next pitch. With two outs, sophomore Kobey Chism roped a single to left field putting Panther runners on first and second base with two outs. Kevin Wren then stepped into the box and took the fist pitch for a ball, the second pitch for strike one, and then Wren drove a line drive into right-centerfield for a triple that scored Cantrell and Chism to tie the game up. The Skiers tried to throw Wren out at third base to end the inning, but the ball skipped away from the third basemen, and this allowed Wren to move up on the error and score the winning run for the Panthers. The win put the Panthers record at 7-5 overall and 0-0 in league play.

The Panthers then traveled to Cedaredge on Saturday to open Western Slope League play for the two teams. In game one, Myers toed the rubber again for the Panthers and in a very dominating fashion, struck out 10 Bruin hitters while walking none. Myers had a 78% strike ratio in the outing. Junior Luis Quintana led the Panthers offense with three hits in four at-bats and he also scored one run. Mackay and LeBleu also helped the Panther offense with two hits each and three RBIs between the two. The Panthers were able to end the game early in the sixth inning with a 12-2 score courtesy of the 10-run mercy rule. 

Senior Justin Cudo picked up his second win of the season in game two against the Bruins for the Panthers as he pitched five strong innings while striking out seven and walking two. Cudo gave up three runs with only one run being an earned run in his outing. Wren came in for relief of Cudo and threw one and two-thirds innings for the Panthers. Wren surrendered four runs, all earned in his outing but threw effectively for the Panthers to hang on for the win 11-7. 

The win pushed the Panthers to 9-5 overall and 2-0 in the Western Slope League. Rangely and Cedaredge are the only two teams for the WSL to face each other so far and have the games count for league. The Panthers will face the Coal Ridge Titans on Monday, May 2 for their next game at home in Rangely and then they will travel to Meeker on Wednesday, May 4 for a one game league match-up with the Cowboys. 

Special to the Herald Times