Rangers roll on with another dominant victory

THE Toowoomba Rangers continue their win streak in GBL division four with a strong showing against Redcliffe.

Anthony Prowse for the Toowoomba Rangers. Picture: Nev Madsen.

BASEBALL: Another one-sided display has lifted the Toowoomba Rangers to their seventh-successive victory at the weekend.

On the road to the Redcliffe Padres White, who came into the fixture with a 4-4 record, the Rangers again showed why they are the best offensive team in the league.

They racked up a big scoreline once again, coming out on top with an 11-1 victory to keep them one game behind first-placed Wests.

Despite a somewhat slow start, Toowoomba was able to play from in front and maintain the advantage throughout the entire contest, something that coach Luke Ardill was happy about.

“Redcliffe are a team that will be pushing for the top-four at the end of the season, but we were just too strong for them,” Ardill said.

“We played in front from the word go. We started a little slow with the bat, however even though we mightn’t be scoring six runs every innings, we were able to wear them down and score every innings.”

Ardill said that aside from the side’s strong form with the bats, their pitching and fielding was again at its best.

With player availability testing the Rangers at the weekend, Ardill opted to open with ace pitcher Sam McNeice, who stayed at the mound for the entire game.

“The main thing we’ve found out is that was our fifth time holding a team to one run this season which is amazing,” he said.

“It’s hard to get beat when you’re conceding only one run a game. Our hitting has been good but our fielding has been amazing, and it’s really helping out our pitchers.

“It puts pressure on the opposition when they aren’t able to score any runs.

“Sam pitched the whole game this week. We were missing a couple of our good hitters so we called up two players from B-grade who did their job.

“It’s just the second game he’s pitched the whole way through. Giving him that break has rejuvenated him and I think he will continue to get stronger.

“We haven’t seen the best of him yet.”

The Rangers attention will now turn to Indians Mano on Sunday, their final home game before the Christmas break.

“We want another strong start this weekend and to keep racking up competition points.”

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