Rob Laidlaw
IT was another one-run home loss for Gawler Rangers in division two baseball, who fought back valiantly against Glenelg before ultimately falling 7-8.
An old habit returned to haunt the Rangers, as five errors gifted Glenelg half of its runs.
The mistakes started mounting in the second inning, when two misplays gave the Tigers three tallies, which Gawler could not quite recover from to take any lead again.
Ben Strong led off the Rangers’ batting with a hit-by-pitch in the opening dig, before advancing to third base on Rhys Argent’s error-forcing hit, and scoring on Wyatt Ryan’s ground-out to give Gawler the 1-0 lead.
Fighting back through the bottom of the second inning after falling 1-3 down, the Rangers levelled the contest with a pair of runs after Ben Nottle hit his first home run in division two, followed by clever running from Strong and Argent after collecting infield hits.
Glenelg scored two runs in the third and another at the top of the fourth to go 3-6 up, with Gawler managing a single run in the bottom of the fourth on Ryan’s RBI single up the middle.
When the Tigers scored two runs in what turned out to be the final frame, with two errors contributing to one of the runs, the game looked shot to pieces, as the visitors led 4-8.
But the Rangers have a reputation as battlers, and again fought back in the bottom of the fifth.
Jake Rodda led off with a single, Liam Holland walked, Noah Okeil laid down a sac bunt and Ben Strong batted two runs in on his two-out single to right-field to breathe life into the Rangers.
Argent hit a pop up to the same position at right-field, which was dropped, to keep the game alive, before Strong scored on a passed ball.
Unfortunately for Gawler, that was all she wrote as Josh Lands’ grounder to second base was bobbled initially before the fielder recovered to nip Lands out at first base by inches and ice the game.
From the mound Lands pitched to all but the final Glenelg batter of the game, conceding six hits for four strikeouts in 4.2 innings, with only four of the eight runs being ‘earned’ as his fielders let him down.
In a tight battle for a top six berth, and a finals spot, Gawler is hanging on to sixth position by percentage over Glenelg, which makes the next three weeks of home games extra important, starting with Kensington this Saturday.
There were good signs from the Rangers’ division three team, which collected 14 hits in going down 6-17 to the Tigers.
Link Ryan and Leighton Mells led the way with three hits each, while in the final frame Gawler scored three runs after Mells, Nick O’Connor, Jake Halliday, Gavin Ainsworth, Ryan and Liam Holland contributed hits to finish on a positive note.
Today, the Rangers begin the under-19 season with a home game against East Torrens.
This side, coached by club legend Barry O’Brien, is a glimpse into some of the promising juniors of the future.

RESULTS
Division two: Gawler Rangers | Glenelg 7-8 (hits: Ben Strong 2, Rhys Argent, Wyatt Ryan, Nathan Schreier, Jake Rodda, Ben Nottle (hr)).
Division three: Gawler Rangers | Glenelg 6-17 (hits: Link Ryan 3, Leighton Mells 3,
ravis Schreier 2, Nick O’Connor 2, Jake Halliday 2, Liam Holland, Gavin Ainsworth)
Division seven: Gawler Rangers | South 6-12.