Published: June 18, 2007 11:56 pm      

Wranglers finally get back on the field

Despite having a four-day layoff due to inclement weather, the Weatherford Wranglers showed no signs of rust against the Brazos Valley Bombers, as Weatherford’s Trey Crain belted a two-RBI single into right field in the bottom of the seventh to blow the game open for the Wranglers and giving them 5-0 lead on their way to the 8-0 shutout victory Monday night at Weatherford College’s Roger Williams Ballpark.

“I was concerned about our focus level and how sharp we would be after the layoff,” said Weatherford head coach Jeff Lightfoot. “You hate having too many rain-outs because you end up paying for it in July. I was definitely glad to be able to get it In today.”

Jon Kibler put on a pitching clinic, going eight innings, allowing no runs on three hits on 85 pitches, while striking out seven batters and walking only three.

The closest the Bombers came to touching up Kibler was in the seventh inning after Mark McConigle led the inning off with a double to left field. Joseph Towns hit a dribbler right back to the mound two pitches later. Kibler elected to go to third and force McConigle back to second. Crain rocketed the ball to Buck Britton to tag McConigle out.

The out got Brazos Valley manager Kevin Moulder out of the third base box arguing at the first base umpire who had made the call. After a brief, heated discussion, Moulder was tossed from the game. Will Basom sent the next pitch right into Adam Hornung’s glove at first. Hornung touched first base to complete the 3-unassisted double play.

Part of what made Kibler so dominating Monday night was his ability to get outs either on the first or second pitch of an at-bat. Sixteen of Kibler’s 24 outs came either on strikeouts or on outs recorded within the first two pitches of an at-bat.

“[Kibler] can do a lot of different things with the ball,” Kibler said. “He can turn it over. He can run it in righties, run it in on lefties and has a real good idea how to get hitters out.

“I think that just tells you a little bit about how deceptive he is,” Lightfoot said about Kibler’s ability to get batters out early in the count. “He has a change-up and a split. When comes out of his hand, it looks like a fastball and that is why he is getting a lot of swinging misses early.”

The Wranglers grabbed the lead in the first inning after Jamie Johnson led off with a double. Johnson moved over to third after Britton grounded out to the short stop. Spencer Jackson, who finished his first game of the season 2-for-3 and two runs, drove in Johnson with the first of his two hits. Jackson moved to third on a Crain hit and scored on a Hornung sacrifice fly.

Wrangler fans also got to see Britton extend his hitting streak to eight game, who needed an at-bat in the bottom of the eighth to get the needed hit, as he blooped a ball on a 1-2 count into center field for a two-RBI single.

“He works hard every day,” Lightfoot said. “Buck has a great work ethic. He is constantly working on his stroke, from at-bat to at-bat. He had a couple at-bats early that were not very good, had the runner at third base and got the pop-up in the infield. But he came back into the dugout and said, ‘I am pulling off the ball a little bit. I am going to stay through it.’ We talk a little bit about our two-strike fight, two-strike approach and he did a good job of fighting with two strikes. That is one of our game plans.”

The Wranglers travel to Coppell tonight and will be back at home against Mineral Wells on Saturday.



Weatherford 8, Brazos Valley 0

BVB 000 000 000 — 0 3 0

WEA 200 010 23x — 8 9 0



Kibler, Harwood (9) and Shofner; Curry, Helms (5), Albright (6) Cox (7), Ary (8) Davis (8) and Masuda. W — Kibler (2-0). L — Curry. 2b — (BVB) McConigle, Basom; (WEA) Johnson. SB — (BVB) Mittelstaedt; (WEA) Jackson (2), Johnson, Butler. WP — (BVB) Helms; PB — (BVB) Masuda.