• Wednesday night dinner this week thanks to Rosemary and The Pres for a feed $10 each
• Make sure you follow us on Twitter @WangRangers and on look us on Teamapp Wangaratta Rangers
• Check out http://www.wangarattarangers.baseball.com.au
• Hoodies are available for $45 each
• Caps flexfit $25 and adjustable $20 are now available (worth the money!)
• Victorian Winter Baseball championships on in Geelong 6,7,8 June
• Next home game is at Wangaratta 13th June. All welcome
• Ladies Day to be held Sunday 21st of June at Wangaratta. All welcome
• For fixture and draw have a look at http://www.northeastern.baseball.com.au under fixture tab
• Silver circle to be held in early August

Hello and welcome to this weeks edition about the comings and goings ons at the Wangaratta Rangers Baseball Club. Once again the weather was splendid over the weekend and the Rangers bats were well and truly warmed up. In the first game the Rangers Orange boys put on a display of precision hitting and good fielding to defeat Porepunkah Panthers 17-7. Justin Mortimer on the hill wound back the clock and had a day out with the bat. In the late game, the Rangers Black squad proved too strong for a rapidly improving Wodonga Warriors A, winning 12-3. Special thanks to Wodonga Warriors for their hospitality and ‘perfect’ temperature pies. Not to mention all the supporters who ventured out to watch both games of baseball. It is greatly appreciated.

So what else has been happening in Ranger land? Keep reading and you will find out.

Jack Bradburn gets his first hits as a Ranger!

     It was great to witness the newest Ranger Jack “The Big Hurt” Bradburn get his first hit in the orange and black. It was also great that his folks were there to witness not only his first hit but his second hit as well! Not to mention a couple of runs batted in to go with it. Both hits were solid shots back up over second base with wood. Jack has the option of swinging aluminum or wood, but he has taken a liking to the wood bats.

From all of the Rangers congratulations on getting your first pair of hits Jack! Keep working hard on Wednesday nights.

Don’t you forget about me Mark Drage.

     Mark “The Rage” Drage has had a big few weeks on the field. Two weeks ago he hit his first home run of the year against Benalla. An inside the park effort which was a long hit to the deep Benalla outfield. This was an oversight by Line drive so Mark let Line Drive’s good mate and travel companion Cam “The Motivator” Scott know. This week Drage’s outfield antics went to a new level of cool. A hard hit, deep ball was floating towards the alley between left field and center field. Most would give up on it and let up the double, but not Drage. He flung him self backwards and took a spectacular catch. Now that’s how you play baseball Dragey. Great stuff. Special thanks to Lauren Grenfell for taking the picture.

What happened to Scott Jenkins?

     The Nambrok place boys had another exciting adventure over the weekend and arrived to the game looking……..pretty tired. There was supposed to be four of them however only three turned up. When asked where Scotty Jenkins was the boys replied that he was puffed and stayed home. No big deal really? However Scotty did say he would come and line umpire and be on the bench. Might owe a gold coin for this one Scotty. What you think man of tin Dan “Shades” Griffin?

Justin Mortimer “Fear the Beard” 

     Justin “Mountain Man” Mortimer begun the season quietly. Over the weekend he returned to the pitching mound and starred for the Rangers Orange outfit. Mortimer chewed up some innings for the Orange boys and hit up a storm. When asked how many hits Mortimer had had, Rob “Butts” Seymour shrugged his shoulders and said he had lost count. All the scribe knows it was plenty. Well played Justin.

Did you see the skipper swiping extra bases?

     Mick “The Skipper” Wyatt swiped second not once but twice for the orange boys. The skipper has been all amongst it all year so far, and it is great to have him involved and around the club. That running on Wednesday nights is helping us all. Though on another note did the media darling Tetsu Kamiyama pay his fine for not tagging up on a flyball with less than two out? Who was arguing about running on Wednesday night?? Lucky for Tets he made it safely home as the ball was dropped. Still pay up Tetsu.

Another weekend another Moosism.

     Bryan “Don’t call me Byron” Wilson was at his best against Wodonga. Not only did he pitch 5 scoreless innings  but before the game he suggested that we do a infield warmup. Cam Scott was shocked and horrified by this idea that he lodged an official complaint with training guru Nathan Pool. Luckily, sense prevailed and no warm up was undertaken. Later on in the day Moose did agree that it was not necessary as The Rangers played flawless defense behind Moose on the mound. Just another Moosism.

The best number nine hitter in the league goes to….. Shannon Whiting.

     Former Ranger and all round nice guy Shannon “Bestie” Whiting is laying claim to being the most potent number nine hitter in the North Eastern Baseball Association. He struck fear into the pitching of Wangaratta. He was pitched around twice and finished the game with an on base percentage of 1000. Late in the game when Nathan “Four hits” Pool came to the mound Bestie did some of his best work, by getting Pool to throw something he could handle and dispatch it to the outfield for a hit. Pretty good set of the numbers for the day Bestie. Promotion up the order?

Play hard on the field and share a laugh off it.

     We all like to play the game hard and win the game when we can, but the off field camaraderie in the North East Baseball Association is alive and well. This was clearly evident with all the Wodonga Warriors and Rangers sharing an ale having a chat and enjoying one another company after the game at Edwards Tavern. So all out there support one another. We all want to keep playing this great game.

Now the club stuff

• Fees are now due. Please fix up Kev Pool as soon as possible
• Butts says caps will be here this Wednesday. Hoodies are not far away.
• Rep is on the long weekend in Geelong let someone know if you are interested in going.
• This weeks drill will be brought to you by Dylan Cowan. Get along Wednesday to find out what it is.
• End of season trip date yet to be determined.
• Ladies Day Sunday 21st June. All are welcome.

That’s enough from me. Have a great week and

Go Rangers

Hello and welcome to this weeks edition of the life and times of those involved in the Wangaratta Rangers Baseball Club. This weeks edition will be a little bit different to the past ones. You see Line Drive was away for Sunday’s game so he sent his apprentice Hanging Slider to look at today’s action. Here is how Hanging Slider saw the weekends game

Down the Middle by Hanging Slider
Line Drive was not at the game today and can be forgiven for thinking that the Rangers boys had a good day, when he was told they had only lost against Wodonga A by five runs. Wodonga A is shaping up to be one of the teams to beat, but the reality of it all was that Rangers had played one of their worst games this season. You see, Wodonga A’s had a severely depleted side with eight of their players unavailable and many of their new “B” side forced to top up the team. For Rangers it should have been a relatively simple task to shut them out and take home the win. Frenchie started off well on the mound for Rangers sending Wodonga packing with 3 up 3 down. He continued with some excellent pitching throughout the game until relieved by Jason Jonker who also put in a valiant effort.
Rangers started slowly with the bat scoring a couple of runs early in the game, but they soon slumped and didn’t score any more until the last dig. Their fielding let them down badly after the first innings with many basic errors. Regulation catches and ground ball putouts went begging. Whilst there were the beginnings of some excellent plays with hard ground balls being knocked down, the recovery pickup and throws were woefully of the mark. Wodonga capitalised on the errors scoring in most innings. It was not until the last innings of the game that Rangers finally did something right with another 3 up 3 down fielding dig before heading in to bat. With a sense of determination the boys knuckled down and had some great hits scoring two more runs and forcing some errors from Wodonga. With two down, bases loaded and Kyle “Thrillmore” Gilmore at bat it looked like we were set to score again. Gilly punched a nice shot out to centre field and unfortunately was caught out, but not before Rob “Beaker’ Barbour at third managed to score on the hit. Unfortunately the other runners on base did not realise it was only one out. They were forced to retreat back to their bases after the catch but for one it was too late. A putout at second base saw the end of the innings and the game with runners left on base. A final score of 10 – 5 left the Rangers lads feeling very unhappy with their performance. Needless to say there will be a focus on basic skills and communication at training in the next few weeks.
My Ranger Rules:
Round 1 kicked off with Rob “Beaker” Barbour doing his famous “Gourmet Chicken Schnitzel Burgers” with Chips on the side. From all accounts, most of the players thought it was a fair effort. The Judges agreed also, but scored fairly cautiously because it was the first round. The judges scored two 7’s and a 6 for a total of 20 out of 40, with the guest judge scores to be revealed at the final round of the competition to determine the winner.

Thanks Hanging Slider for your insight this week. Now back to what else has been going on.

Angus Young…what the?
If you follow Angus young on a variety of social media platforms you would have noticed this week he has taken on some strange selfie challenge of one a day without his shirt on. Must admit one of the more bizarre challenges. Although Angus has been quite creative on where he has taken his photos. Might have to involve fines master Daniel Griffin in determining a course of monetary compensation towards the trip for this one.

Happy Birthday Dill Pickle!
Over the weekend Dylan “Dillpickle” Cowan celebrated his birthday. One thinks it may have been a great weekend away playing one of the many multitude of activities that he undertakes. Rock climbing, watching boxing, playing basketball, being an all round great guy. From all of us at Wangaratta Rangers hope you had a great day!

Training on Wednesday will have a special focus.
Last week saw Kyle “Thrillmore” Gilmore deliver a drill that was creative and hard work to his fellow Ranger players, now it’s Scott “The Beard” Jenkins turn. He has given little away about the drill but my sources tell me that is simple and relevant to all who play in the Orange and Black! Come Wednesday for training at 6pm and more will be revealed then.

Need your Haircut Brian knows!
Not only do we talk about baseball on-line but talk about where do we find the best haircuts in Wangaratta. Bryan “Don’t call me Byron” Wilson was looking for a good haircut over the weekend. One thinks is it for him or for someone else? This scribe may believe it is for someone else. Still hope your question was answered satisfactorily Moose.

New caps!!!
Special mention goes to Rob “Butts” Seymour who has come through with the goods and new caps have looked to have been ordered. It is one of the missing pieces of the Rangers uniform puzzle that is going to be solved. With hoodies on order and new caps look out ladies of gentlemen of North Eastern Victoria, Wangaratta look sharp!

Cods update
Well not really an update just more of a hello out there to all the Cods members plying their baseball throughout Victoria. Cam “The Dodger” Rogers been busy giving us here at Wangaratta Rangers ideas for Wednesday night training activities. Last weeks was a doozy! Wonder if Tets has been on this show???

The Club stuff
Next weeks games will see both teams travel to Wodonga to play.
Rangers Orange Vs Porepunkah Panthers in the early game to start at 11.30.
Wodonga A’s Vs Rangers Black in the late game starting at 2.15pm
Committee Meeting this Wednesday night after training.
Tea this week is Pizza some come along for a piece or two.
Hoodies and caps are on order.
Scotty Jenkins has the training drill this Wedensday
End of Season trip date is yet to be determined
Follow us on twitter @WangRangers and find us on Facebook
https://wangarattarangers.teamapp.com/
http://www.wangarattarangers.baseball.com.au

Anyhow enough from me this week. Thanks to Hanging Slider for his writing while Line Drive was absent.
Most importantly
Go Rangers