After a somewhat disappointing season for Olympic College, the Rangers were hoping to play spoiler against Skagit Valley on May 8 and 9, but in the four games the Rangers were only able to win once, a 1-0 win and a game where pitcher Josh Arnold pitched a complete game shutout.
After the weekend series the baseball team hosted Shoreline, a doubleheader, which would be the final home games for the Rangers this season.
In game one of the doubleheader the Rangers were able to get seven hits and four runs.
The game also included a great pitching performance by Josh Rubideaux.
“We talked about pride before this game,” said head coach Ryan Parker. “We wanted to end the sophomores on a good note and set the pace for the freshmen.”
Game two of the doubleheader was an exciting one, with OC showing a lot of offense. After a home run by sophomore Ryan Williams the Rangers entered the eighth inning down 4-5.
Freshmen Brad Fairweather came up and delivered a game-tying hit. Fairweather came up again in the bottom of the ninth with one and once again came through crushing the ball over the fence for a walk off home run, a perfect way to finish the final home game of the season.
“It was huge for Fairweather, he had no more than 15 at-bats all season. He had the hit in the eight and the walk-off, and I feel good for him,” said Parker.
For the past couple seasons the Rangers biggest problem had been hitting with runners in scoring position and in this game they we able to get the big hits when they needed them.
“We got some timely hits with runners in scoring position, great pitching and we were able to score guys,” said Parker. “Makes us feel good, some guys are moving on, some are done, good to finish on a good note.”
Although the hopes were high for the Rangers this year, the Rangers were close in a lot of games, even against the top teams in the league. The team learned they can hang with any team and Parker believes that has got to give them confidence for next year.
The Rangers have signed a few letters for players coming in next year but are losing some strong players this season. Those players leaving include starting pitchers: Jared Vera, Ryan Hastings and Josh Rubideaux. Also leaving are Shawn Stayton, Bo Folkinga, Todd Dalrymple and Tyler Sartor.
“We are going to miss all of them, in one way or another,” said Parker. “Replacing them will be a hard task and losing them is hard too, but every year you lose someone and you get use to that as a coach.”
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