Dominant patch guides Rangers home

The Toowoomba Rangers have climbed into third position on the GBL ladder following an electric fourth innings at home.

Cody Luchterhand, Rangers safe at second base. Baseball QBL division 4 round 5, Toowoomba Rangers vs Carina Redsox Red. Picture: Nev Madsen. Sunday, 3rd Nov, 2019.

BASEBALL: When the Toowoomba Rangers put their foots down, their contest against Carina was as good as over.

A tense opening three innings saw the two sides locked at 0-all, before the Rangers stamped their authority in the GBL division four fixture.

A mammoth seven-run fourth innings saw them take the game from the Redsox Red in one fell swoop, and move them into third spot.

“It was a pretty good win and we’re starting to turn things around,” player Darryl Luchterhand said.

“They’ve got a few old heads and a young bloke that throws really well so it was a good test.”

Luchterhand said it was a case of playing the waiting game against the talented Carina pitcher.

“Everyone swung the bats pretty well,” he said.

“It was 0-all for three innings, then we were able to get a hold of their pitcher.

“We hadn’t seen anyone throw as hard as this bloke this year. It took a couple of innings to adjust to the speed.

“They brought in a relief and then we really opened up the floodgates and dropped seven on them in the fourth.

“We picked up another four over the concluding innings, and gave up a few late runs, but the boys knew the job was done.

“Ardy (coach Luke Ardill) spoke about the need to keep driving.”

Luchterhand said as well as being able to make solid contact with the bats, their pitchers did the job on the mound.

“Laurie Taylor threw exceptionally well for us, and then Sam (McNiece) shut them down when he came in,” he said.

“We’ve got pretty good depth this year, especially in our pitching.

“Cody (Luchterhand) has done a bit of throwing in A-grade, and John Ditchburn relieved against Narangba, and is going to be very handy for us at the back-end of the season.”

Luchterhand said the team was pleased with the strong results to start the season, and indicated they wanted to be in a stronger position than last year to avoid being in a late tussle for finals positions.

The Rangers will next take on 10th-placed Carina Redsox White at Commonwealth Oval on Sunday.

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