The freshman baseball team added two wins to its record on Thursday, April 27. It played in two five-inning games on its own freshman field where the team made many improvements and great plays.

The Rangers began their day as the home team where Will McClain started on the mound. Will had a solid fight; he only allowed one walk, seven hits, two earned runs, and racked up five strikeouts for the team in five innings. Shortstop Nick Williams, second baseman Naveen Ram, and first baseman Jonathan Van Houten all contributed to a big double play in the first inning, preventing the Eagles from scoring.

“We had good at-bats in both games and didn’t have many errors defensively, I think we were just more confident this game than we were in some of the other ones,” Will said. “I would like to improve on my hitting and turning ground balls into line drives. As a team, I feel like there weren’t many things we needed to improve on.”

The boys racked up a total of five hits in the game. Benny Mielock, Will McClain, and Oliver Pelon each had one hit, and Gibson Wierenga was able to earn two hits. Adam Piotrowski had an impressive hit to the shortstop in the bottom of the third inning with bases loaded, where an error was made by the Eagles and three Ranger athletes were able to score. The game was scoreless after that and ended with a final score of 9-2.

“Getting on base with the error was a very exhilarating play and it got the team hype,” Adam said. “We hit the ball much better in these games and in turn scored more runs, we just need to improve on clearing our heads after a strikeout or error and make sure we are focusing on the next play instead.”

After a quick break, the boys continued onto their next game where they continued on as the home team and started in the field. Caden Harleton pitched a great game where he only allowed five hits, no earned runs, no walks, and five strikeouts. The rest of the defense was solid; there were only two errors made during the course of the game.

The Rangers continued to stay strong at the plate where they racked up another five hits. Nick Williams, Tucker Krause, and Elias Cumings all had one hit along with Caden Harleton who led the Rangers with two hits. Adam Piotrowski had another perfect hit and was able to advance to second base on an error made by the Eagles. This allowed Isaac Avery and Oliver Pelon to score and take an early lead in the game. The boys continued to fight and were able to take another win with a final score of 6-1.

“Almost all of our players knew someone from the other team so it was good to get two wins against them,” Elias said. “We made more contact with the ball these games than we have in the past but we need to improve on not making errors on defense.”

The Rangers’ next game will be on Thursday, May 4, at Byron Center high school at 4:15 pm where they will play 2 – 5 inning games.