SOUTH RANGE SAILS THEIR WAY TO A WIN

By Matt Maher

NILES, OH – The Red Dragons welcomed the South range Raiders to town for the first game of the season series between these two conference rivals. The Raiders put on a show Monday night, scoring 16 runs and blanking the Red Dragons by a final score of 16-0.

The Raiders started Julian Tranovich who threw in 3 innings and not only kept Niles off the board, but also kept them from earning a hit! Tranovich finished his impressive night with 7 Ks and only 2 walks. Luke Gehring came in for relief in the 4th allowing just 1 hit and striking out 2. Konnor Brogan finished off the night on the bump for the Raiders with 2 Ks and a groundout to end the game.

Landon Turner got the nod for Niles and had trouble with his control. After giving up 2 hits and a fielder’s choice to second, it would be Brennan Klasovsky who would bring in the first RBI and the second run of the game for South Range. Turner showed steady improvement moving forward with only 1 run allowed in the second and earning his first strikeout! The 3rd is where South Range fully took control, with 6 runs scored they made it hard for Niles to counter.

Turner would earn the first 2 outs of the 4th before being swapped out for Tyler Williams who allowed the next 4 runs to score. Williams finished the game for Niles, giving up 3 more runs before retiring the side. Turner finished with 3.2 IP, 11 ER, 8 Hits and 3 Ks while Williams finished with 1.1 IP, 5 ER, 2 Hits and 1 K.

The Red Dragons found themselves down early in another game but the young team showed improvements from past games, especially on the mound with some very nice pitches mixed in, as time goes on and these kids mature and continue to work on their craft this team could be a real headache for the Northeast 8 very soon while South Range continues to be a headache for their opponents now. South Range (8-4, 3-3) and Niles (2-7, 1-5) will both face each other next on April 23rd at 5pm at South range.