Rangers Win Round 1 of Backyard Battle

04/18/2012
 

On Sunday, the Redlegs and Rangers opened up the 2012 season in this year’s first edition of the “Backyard Battle”. Two members of the Springboro baseball coaching staff squared off against each other on the mound in the form of Kevin Campbell for the Redlegs and Shawn Schmitt for the Rangers. Campbell did what he could, but ultimately the windy conditions and shakey defense behind him yielded the win to Schmitt.

The Rangers jumped out to an early 1-0 lead when Jelani Arnold doubled home Jonmarc Lippincott in the top of the 1st inning. But the Redlegs took the lead right away in the bottom half of the inning. Caleb Rodriguez doubled and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly from Brandon Howard. Brad Clark later singled in another run to make the score 2-1. The Redlegs put 3 more on the board in the 2nd to extend their lead to 5-1. Justin McCurdy led the inning off with a single, followed by Jared Bradley who singled and Matt Redman who walked to load the bases. Two runs came in on an error, and then Sam Mote doubled in another run. But the lead was short lived as the Rangers tied things up in the 3rd, highlighted by a 2 run double off the bat of Joe Staten, then took the lead scoring 2 more in the 4th. The Rangers finally ran Campbell from the game in the 5th after 3 hits and 2 Redleg errors yielded 4 more runs. 1st round draft pick Bobby Dempsey took over and got a strikeout to end the inning and limited the damage to 11-5. The Redlegs chipped away in the 5th, scoring 2 more when Brad Clark and Justin McCurdy both drew bases loaded walks to bring the score back to 11-7. But the flood gates opened up in the top of the 6th, the Rangers scored 7 runs in the frame. The Rangers were able to draw 4 walks off Dempsey but only managed 1 hit, but a crucial 2 out error loaded the bases and allowed the inning to continue for Shawn Schmitt to blast a grand slam that put the nail in the coffin and ran the score to 18-8. Neither team scored again until the 9th, the Rangers got a bases loaded walk from Jonmarc Lippincott to extend the lead to 19-8. In the bottom half Matt Redman drew his 3rd walk of the day and 3 batters later Brandon Howard launched a homerun that landed beyond the building that lies beyond the left field fence at Fairborn High School.

The Redlegs will try to get in the win column Sunday when they face the Miami Valley Thunder at 1:00 at Action Sports Center.

Highlights: Matt Redman 0-1, RBI, 3BB, 3R. Sam Mote, 2-3 2B, RBI, 2BB, 2R. Brandon Howard 2-4, HR, 3RBI. Brad Clark 3-4, 2RBI, BB. Steve Benthal, 2-4, R.

Boxscore

PlayerABHRRBIBB
M Redman10313
C Rodriguez51100
S Mote32212
B Howard42130
B Clark43021
M Mattice30000
J McCurdy21111
J Long40000
S Benthal42100
J Bradley41100
B Longacre20000
J Millard10000
G Lebouef10000

2B: Rodriguez; Mote
HR: Howard

PlayerIPHRERKBB
K Campbell (L)4.671311532
B Dempsey 115214
J Millard 2.3312031
J Bradley 121122