Rangers drop two in doubleheader to Cosby
Published 8:37 pm Sunday, March 15, 2020
1 of 8
Star Photo / Brandon Hyde
Unaka first baseman Mark Nealon catches a throw for an out at first against Cosby Thursday night at home.
Star Photo / Brandon Hyde
Unaka's Gavin Seigfried sets to make the throw to home.
Star Photo / Brandon Hyde
Unaka fell behind early but started to make a comeback in the 4th inning.
Star Photo / Brandon Hyde
Gavin Seigfried tries to beat the throw to first after an infield grounder for Unaka.
Star Photo / Brandon Hyde
Unaka pulls closer to Cosby after Austin Drew comes home on a single by Mark Nealon.
Star Photo / Brandon Hyde
Unaka's Landon Ramsey on his way to second after a nice double to center field.
Star Photo / Brandon Hyde
Unaka's Joseph Slagle got the Ranger offense going on a single.
Star Photo / Brandon Hyde
Unaka's Nolan Bradley came in to pitch after a rough start for the Rangers.
BY NIC MILLER
STAR CORRESPONDENT
STONEY CREEK – Amid concerns from college and professional sports teams regarding the Coronavirus, things were still business as usual for high school baseball around the region.
The Rangers of Unaka High School held a double-header in their home opener in Stoney Creek against the Cosby Eagles on Thursday evening.
Things didn’t look good early for the home team as the visitors were able to capitalize on errors to take a one-run lead in the top half of the first.
And as the Rangers seemed to have a big inning of their own, two straight outs left three runners on base in the bottom of the frame.
Things didn’t get better in the second as the first three batters were hit by a pitch, followed by an impressive hitting performance to bring four more runners home.
It was the same story in the bottom of the second as the Rangers couldn’t get anything going, making it a 5-0 ball game early.
The Unaka pitching staff’s struggles continued in the third as five runs were scored as a result of wild pitches, walks, and batters hit despite two changes on the mound. The Rangers were backed against the wall headed into the home half of the third, 10-0.
Joe Slagle would help the Rangers get on the board in the third after excellent base running and fielding miscues would bring him across.
The good inning would continue when Nathaniel Painter and Mark Nealon would both hit a roller through the infield to bring three more across in the inning bringing the Ranger deficit to six, 10-4.
A full inning later, the Rangers were back at it as a wild throw from the Cosby catcher resulted in two more runs for Unaka, making it a 10-6 ballgame heading into the fifth.
In the fifth, Hunter Workman would tack on two more for the Eagles with a double to left field followed by a sacrifice ground out to extend the lead late.
Cosby would take game one in five innings by defeating the Rangers, 13-6.
The second game of the night started out better for the Rangers as Unaka was able to outscore the Eagles 3-1 in the first inning.
However, the Eagles came charging out of the gate in the second and thanks to excellent hitting were able to take the lead, 4-3.
But the Rangers wouldn’t be denied as a couple of nice RBI’s including an inside the park home run by Nolan Bradley gave Unaka the lead once again 10-4.
In the third, it was easy to see that this would be a tug of war as the Eagles scored ten runs to take the lead once again, 14-10.
In the end, the Eagles were able to pull away after 4 innings of play as they defeated the Unaka Rangers in the second game by a score of 21-15.
Slagle had two of the six hits in the first game for Unaka while Bradley had a perfect 4-for-4 performance in the second game including a home run. The Rangers had 14 hits in game two.
