ROB LAIDLAW

WITH a number of players unavailable, Gawler Rangers faced top-four team Kensington in division two baseball, but came from 0-3 down after three innings to win 7-3 at home.

It looked like it was going to be a long day early after Kensington took advantage of errors to score twice in the first frame.

The visitors scored again once in the second, while Gawler left the bases loaded without scoring, with the score remaining 3-0 until the bottom of the fourth.

Steve Vanpoorten led off the bottom of the fourth with a single, before Nathan Schreier hit and Noah Okeil bunted to load the bases with one out.

A single to right-field by Rhys Argent brought in the Rangers’ first run, proceeded by Travis Schreier’s walk scoring another, before the second out was made.

But Gawler was not quite finished, with RBI hits to Jake Rodda and Josh Lands putting the Rangers 4-3 up before a good throw-out at home ended the rally.

With tails in the air and Lands pitching a gem, Gawler extended its lead in the fifth with a pair of runs on Argent’s hit and a double steal that scored Okeil, who had also doubled.

Lands finished the sixth inning in fine style, with his sixth strikeout, as he reached his pitch limit after conceding five hits and just one earned run.

The Rangers added an insurance run at the bottom of the sixth on Rick Leonard’s RBI hit, before Leonard came onto the mound to finish Kensington off, collecting two K2s.

In an impressive performance, the Rangers beat Kensington 6-1 in division three, with a four-run final inning blowing out a tight clash.

Gawler took a 1-0 lead in the first frame when Noah Okeil singled, stole second base and scored on Rhys Argent’s hit.

The Rangers scored again in the second, after walks to Jake Halliday and Okeil set up a RBI hit to Argent.

After holding a 2-1 lead for four innings, Gawler pulled away in the last frame with four runs after hits to Gavin Ainsworth and Argent, two walks and a wild throw.

Over his six innings of work, Rodda gave up just four hits to the Kensington batters, while collecting 12 K2s.

Gawler’s women won for the fifth time this season with a 15-3 victory over Port Adelaide.

Most of the damage was done in the first two innings, where Gawler scored 10 runs, with Ashlee Filko and AJ Whichello collecting two-run singles.

Laura Helbig pitched three innings for three hits and eight strikeouts to lead the way, while Ashlee Filko registered three hits from three at-bats.

In division seven, the Rangers trailed 4-10 going into the final frame before fighting back to put a scare in the Henley & Grange camp with a four-run rally, highlighted by safe hits to James Mussared, Theo Stirling, Ben Nottle and Sarah-Jane Jameson.