BENTON -— It was a tough loss for the Rangers on Monday, as they fell 5-4 to the Mt. Vernon Rams at Benton Park.
Benton dodged in and out of danger the entire game, thanks to some sloppy defense in a game with eight total errors. The first such occurrence came in the top of the first when the Rams’ leadoff hitter Braden Fitzgerald’s singled, and then advanced to third off of a sacrifice bunt and a Ranger error that put two on with one out. Benton's starting pitcher Ian McMahon was able to get his team out of the jam though with a strikeout and a fly-out to end the inning.
The Rangers began their half of the first with a big spark, scoring four runs and coming up just one batter shy of batting completely around. It all started when Derek Oxford led off Benton with a sharp single, and then mirroring Mt. Vernon's half of the inning, reached second off of a well placed sacrifice bunt by Cole Richardson. Dillan Chamness and Logan Threlkeld had back to back hits after this, and Hamilton Page reached on a throwing error. All four wound up coming in to score, but those four opening salvos would prove to be all the ammunition that Benton brought with them that afternoon, as they did not score again in the game.
The Rangers went down in order in the second, then left two runners stranded in the third and the fourth. In the bottom of the fifth Benton reached once on an error, but struck out three times to end the inning. Benton's final seven batters in the game all went down in order. The Rams slowly started crawling back into the game in the second inning, when Ross Piercy doubled and later scored to make it a 4-1 game. Jake Wylie and Darick Hayes would score for Mt. Vernon in the fourth, reaching base on a hit and error, respectively, making it 4-3. Wylie would reach again on an error in the fifth, and scored to tie the game 4-4.
In the most frustrating inning of the game for Ranger fans, Benton relief pitcher Levi Pearce sat down the first two runners he faced in the seventh, with the help of one phenomenal sliding catch in center by Chamness, and several times was a strike away from sending the Rangers into the bottom of the inning with a chance to win the game on one run.
While Pearce threw the ball well, the Rams' toughness at the plate, combined with a few close strike calls not going Benton's way lead to Mt. Vernon getting the bases loaded. Benton again failed to end it after a high popped up foul ball was allowed to hit the ground. Then in a crushing moment for the Rangers, Blake Jones walked in what would turn out to be the game's deciding run.
Benton finished the game with six total hits, to the Rams eight. Two of those hits came off the bat of Chamness, while the other four were knocked in by Oxford, Threlkeld, and Page. Both Benton and Mt. Vernon had four errors, and played sloppy defense at times, which for the Rangers proved to be key in this close loss.
McMahon pitched four and a third innings, allowing six hits, and three base on balls, and recording one strikeout. Pearce pitched two and two-thirds innings allowing two hits, and walking four to receive the official loss for the game. The Rams were given an excellent outing on the mound by Jones, who pitched six full innings, fanned seven Rangers, walking zero, and allowing six hits, mostly from the first inning shellacking. Jones was relieved by Fitzgeralds in the seventh, who struck out one and allowed no hits to pick up the save.
"We didn't play very well. We made a bunch of errors. We couldn't pick. We didn't practice hard enough, and we didn't make plays,” said a disgusted Brett Blondi after the game. “We played a really poor baseball game today, after starting out pretty well.”
Blondi added, "I thought the pitching was fine. Ian did a fine job, especially for his first varsity start. Levi came in and kept us right there. He did fine. We had an opportunity to make a play on a popped up foul ball in the sixth with the bases loaded, and we didn't go up and make the play. Our defense just didn't make the play. He kept us in the game, but we just couldn't get it going offensively."
This loss drops Benton's record to 4-3. The Rangers play again on Wednesday morning at Rent One Park in Marion, as they take on Crystal Lake South.
