The Rangely High School Panthers baseball team traveled to Olathe and Montrose on Friday to take on Dolores and Ignacio at a neutral site for a pair of 2A Western Slope league games. The Panthers were able to end an eight game losing streak by defeating the Ignacio Bobcats 14-0 in five innings. Earlier in the day, the Panthers fell to the Dolores Bears 9-3 to go 1-1 on the day.
In game one, sophomore Austin Davis toed the rubber for the Panthers and gave a two and one-third inning performance where he only allowed one hit while surrendering four unearned runs. Davis walked six Bears hitters while not recording a strikeout. Davis left the game in the bottom of the third inning when the Bears were able to take a four-run lead on the Panthers. Freshman Keihlin Myers came in a pitched a solid relief effort. Myers went three and two-thirds innings and gave up five scattered runs through those three innings while striking out one Bears hitter with no walks.
Offensively against the Bears, the Panthers succumbed to some base running miscues that allowed the Bears to wiggle off the hook in the first four innings without surrendering a run to the Panthers. In the top of the fifth inning, the Panthers got on the board when senior Drew Brannan smacked a double to left field that scored two runs for the Panthers. Sophomore Austin Davis then followed up with a single to center that plated Brannan on the next pitch and brought the game to 6-3. The Bears were able to tack on three more runs in the next two innings to end the game with a score of 9-3 in favor of the Bears. Drew Brannan led the Panthers at the plate as he went two-for-two at the plate with two walks to along with his hits and he drove in two RBI’s for the Panthers. Fellow senior Tristan Moore also continued his hitting streak as he went two-for-four at the plate with a double and single as well. Seniors Stetson Cudo and CJ Lucero also added a hit each for the Panthers, junior Dylan LeBleu also contributed to the hit column with sophomore Davis.
In game two, the Panthers traveled to Montrose to take on the Ignacio Bobcats. Junior Dylan LeBleu took the mound against the Bobcats and was brilliant in his five innings of work. LeBleu only allowed one hit while striking out 10 and not walking a single Bobcat hitter. With this performance, LeBleu brought his ERA down to 1.68 in 25 innings of work. In those 25 innings, LeBleu has struck out 52 batters while only walking 14.
At the plate, the Panther bats came alive with runners on base to help them to the 14-0 victory. Tristan Moore continued his hot hitting from the game before where he went five-for-five including a triple, three singles and a home run. Moore scored each of the five times that he reached base with five runs. Only to come a double short of the illustrious cycle in the game of baseball. Fellow senior Grady Nielsen also proved difficult to keep off the base paths as he recorded one hit, two walks and a hit-by-pitch in three at-bats on the day. Dylan LeBleu added a four-for-five hitting performance to his great pitching for the Panthers. LeBleu drove in two RBI’s for the Panthers with his four hits. Stetson Cudo went three-for-four with a hit-by-pitch in five plate appearances. Drew Brannan continued to hit the ball hard with a pair of hard hit singles. Austin Davis added two more hits to his stats as he went one-for-two with a walk and a hit-by-pitch in four plate appearances. Freshman Justin Cudo recorded his first varsity hit that plated two runs for the Panthers as well.
With the win, the Panthers now hold a 3-8 mark on the season with a 1-3 record in the 2A Western Slope League. The Panthers will host the Moffat County Bulldogs on Monday, April 22 and then travel to Meeker on Friday, April 26 to take on the Meeker Cowboys in a game that will determine the host site for the 2A Western Slope Pigtail game.
Special to the Herald Times
