Rattlers Get Late Rally For 4-3 Win

From the Capital-Journal:

The Rossville Rattlers couldn’t produce much offense against the assembly line of pitchers employed by the Topeka Golden Giants, but they made the most of what they had.

Managing only four hits, the Rattlers manufactured a pair of runs then got a go-ahead, two-run double from Michael Sinks in the top of the eighth inning to pull out a 4-3 victory over the Giants in a Mid-Plains League game Friday at Jerry Robertson Field.

“We got all we could out of four hits,” Rattlers coach Tobi Cowdin said.

Jacob Schwandt, the fifth of six Topeka pitchers, alternated two walks and two strikeouts when he entered the game in the top of the eighth before Sinks drove in two runs with a double to center field for the 4-3 lead.

“Michael Sinks did a great job with a two-out, two-strike hit,” Cowdin said. “That was huge for us.”

The Giants had taken a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the seventh on an RBI single by Will Brennan and a suicide squeeze bunt by Connor Rule that knocked out Rossville starter Blake Peterson.

Nick Cole relieved Peterson and worked the final 22/3 innings to earn the win.

“Cole did a real good job coming in and throwing strikes to get us out of that inning after they took the lead,” Cowdin said. “He gave us a chance to win the game.”

Peterson — the Washburn Rural product who is transferring from Texas State to Washburn to play baseball and football — allowed three runs (two earned) on six hits with four strikeouts and no walks in 61/3 innings.

“He’s been working hard all summer at both baseball and football doing double-duty,” Cowdin said. “It was an outstanding performance tonight. He looked as good as he has all summer throwing strikes with multiple pitches in the zone. He’s a very dynamic pitcher.”

The first two runs scored by the Rattlers (13-20) both came home on wild pitches. The first of those in the fifth inning came about when Brandon Wilkerson walked, moved to second on a passed ball, stole third and scored on the wild pitch.

“They were bringing a whole slew of pitchers at us and they were all doing a really great job of throwing strikes and keeping us off-balance,” Cowdin said. “We were able to manufacture a couple of runs and get the lead, then we gave it back and we came back and got it. It was a good back-and-forth game.”

The three-game series is tied 1-1 with the rubber game at 6:15 p.m. Saturday, the final regular-season home game for the Giants (13-19).

Rossville 000 011 020 – 4 4 1

Topeka 010 000 200 – 3 7 0

Peterson, Cole (7) and Gragg. Lawrence, Wheeler (3), Middendorf (5), English (6), Schwandt (8), Halter (9) and Rule. W – Cole. L – Schwandt. 2B – Rossville: Eckberg, Sinks. Topeka: Farthing.

Booster Club Golf Tourney

RHS FBLA Team At Nationals

    The Rossville Future Business Leaders of America had a great time in Atlanta and did a great job.  . Our LifeSmarts team of Mitchell Porter & Ashley Rietcheck placed 6th. Mitchell placed 1st in the written assessment portion which was over Personal Finance.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Nola Miller,  FBLA Advisor

Pictured left to right: Nola Miller (advisor), Ashley Rietcheck, Mitchell Porter, 

Emily Woodcock, Ryan Ehrlich, Paul Borcherding, Kathleen Schuler

Pictured left to right: Ashley Rietcheck, Mitchell Porter

                                                                                                                                                              

Carolyn Brown-Ezell Passes Away

Carolyn Leona Brown-Ezell  died June 25, 2016. She lived in Rossville, Ks. She was born in Benton Co., Mo. She was 74 years old.

Survived by 6 children, Duane Wesley Morris, Leona Sue Morris, Dale Allen Morris, Eddie Dean Morris, Arthur David Morris, and Barbara Lenore Morris. With 15 grand children, and numerous great-grand children.

Three sisters, Wilma Arlene Brown-Bays, Cella Joyce Brown-Figueroa, and Dona Laverne Brown-Lee and her spouse Levi Lee. Her parents, Clarence Benjamin Brown and Georgia Louise Brown, preceded her in death.

Carolyn was a CNA, an avid Quilter and Crocheter. Services for her funeral will be July 14, 2016 at 2:00 pm. This will be  Graveside service at Maple Hill Cemetary, she will be Cremated. God Rest Her Soul.

To leave condolences, go to:  www.midwestcremationsociety.com#sthash.MINY26DA.dpuf

Rattlers Lose To Giants 5-3

From the Capital-Journal:

The Topeka Golden Giants entered their final regular season series riding a five-game losing streak, looking to turn things around and improve their postseason playoff prospects.

Solid pitching and one big inning was enough to give the Golden Giants a 5-3 victory over the Rossville Rattlers in a Mid-Plains League game Thursday at Bettis Family Sports Complex.

In snapping the five-game skid, the Giants improved to 13-18 to stand third in the MPL West Division with a 1½-game lead over the fourth-place Rattlers (12-20) with the league tournament starting next week.

“Every game at this point is really important,” Giants coach Chris Graves said. “At this point in the league, everybody has beaten everybody so I don’t know if it really matters where you end up because anybody can beat anybody this year.

“We’ve been struggling a little bit with a little bit of everything, including having guys showing up, so it was good to have everybody here and get a good team win.”

Rossville scored two unearned runs in the fourth inning to take a 2-1 lead but Topeka put together a three-run fifth with four hits, including an RBI double by Connor Rule and run-scoring singles from Butch Rea and Peyton Grassanovits.

“I thought we hit the ball real well most of the game but we didn’t find many holes,” Graves said. “We finally we found a few holes and strung some stuff together, and it happened to be enough.”

The Giants had eight hits with center fielder Will Brennan going 2-for-2 with two walks, three runs scored and three stolen bases.

Topeka starting pitcher Ethan Frazier allowed two runs on four hits in four innings. Paul Wolfram, the second of four Giant pitchers, worked one inning and earned the win with Justin Watkins going the final two innings for the save.

“Our plan going in is to have everyone ready for the tournament so the rest of the games we play will be by committee,” Graves said of the pitching staff. “We won’t have anybody go probably more than three or four innings.”

Rattlers designated hitter Garrett Weber went 2-for-4 with two RBIs while Cameron Thomas and Nate Reeder had two hits apiece.

The three-game series continues Friday at 6:15 p.m. at Bettis.

Rossville 000 201 000 — 3 9 2

Topeka 010 031 00x — 5 8 1

Scrimsher, Kutzke (6), Michalski (8) and Whitworth. Frazier, Wolfram (5), Correl (6), Watkins (8) and Kirmer. W – Wolfram. L – Scrimsher. Sv – Watkins. 2B – Topeka: Rule. 3B – Rossville – Reeder.

Lobos Sneak By Rattlers 5-4

    The Sabetha Lobos won their Wed. night game with the Rattlers 5-4.
     Here is video of the game from KSNT.
http://ksnt.com/2016/07/06/sabetha-lobos-beat-rossville-rattlers-in-makeup-game/

Last regular season games

Stolen Van Crashes In Rossville

From the Capital-Journal:

ROSSVILLE — A man driving a reported stolen minivan was critically injured late Wednesday morning when the vehicle hit a bridge post in northwest Shawnee County, officials said at the scene.

The one-vehicle crash was reported around 11:40 a.m. and occurred at N.W. 54th and Rossville Road — on the north edge of Rossville, about four blocks north of US-24 highway.

Shawnee County sheriff’s officials said the driver, whose age wasn’t immediately known, was transported by American Medical Response ambulance to a Topeka hospital. The driver was alone in the vehicle, which officials said was reported stolen out of Pottawatomie County.

A witness said the crash occurred as the white Dodge Caravan with twin red racing stripes accelerated as it headed north out of Rossville in the 100 block of Main Street.

The witness, who wished to remain anonymous, said the van veered left of center as it approached N.W. 54th Street, striking a bridge post on the west side of the roadway.

At that location, N.W. 54th is the dividing line where Main Street turns into Rossville Road.

The impact caused the minivan to spin around and the airbags to deploy. The van, which ended up facing southwest at the intersection, had major front-end damage and a shattered windshield.

The witness to the crash said he went out to check on the well-being of the driver.

He said the driver had abrasions to the facial area and a bruise on his midsection that ran diagonally from his lower right to upper left.

The driver was conscious the whole time, the witness said, adding that he knocked out the driver’s-side window to check on the driver.

The witness said he sometimes watches traffic go by on Main Street in front of his house, but this was the first time he’d seen a vehicle hit the bridge post.

There were no skid marks visible near the crash site, though the path of the minivan’s left front and rear tires could be seen in the grass of a front yard on the west side of the 100 block of Main Street.

As of 1 p.m., Shawnee County Sheriff’s officials were awaiting the arrival of Pottawatomie County sheriff’s deputies.

Shawnee County sheriff’s officials said the van would be seized, by virtue of it being reported stolen

Class Of 1969 Event

      The RHS Class of 1969 will have an informal "get-together" on July 14 at 6:00 PM at Reeds Ringside Sports Bar & Grill at 4731 NW Hunters Ridge Circle, Topeka, KS 66618.  All class members are invited to attend.  There is a Facebook page for the event.

Rattlers Vs. Lobos July 6

Rattler's Baseball Clinic

Youth Baseball Clinic!

 Players age 8+ are invited to participate in 3 half day sessions of drills 

in fielding, hitting and pitching with NCAA players and coaching staff.

All for $60! Save $10 by signing up today! 

Visit www.rossvillerattlers.com for more information.

Rattlers Get 10-6 Win Over Lobos

    The Rattlers won game 2 against the Sabetha Lobos 10-6 on Friday night.
     Game three of the series schedules for Sat. night has been canceled because of rain.

Rattlers On MPL All-Star Squad

The Mid Plains League All-Star game will be Sunday at Junction City.  Several Rattlers made the Eastern All-Star team.  They are:

4	OF	Nate Reeder	Rossville Rattlers	University of Evansville
15	LHP	Taylor Mah	Rossville Rattlers	Nebraska-Kearney
18	INF	Tristan Peterson	Rossville Rattlers	Kansas State
35	RHP	Drew Scrimsher	Rossville Rattlers	Emporia State
41	OF	Danny Mitchell Jr.	Rossville Rattlers	Arkansas-Little Rock
42	UTL	Brandon Wilkerson	Rossville Rattlers	-

Last Home Series For Rattlers

    The Rattlers came out on the  short end of  to the Sabetha Lobos on Thur. night. 

    Catch game 2 of the three game series Fri.  night at 7. 

This is the last home series of the year.

The Rattlers have a great Saturday planned with team picture giveaways 

and more great merchandise deals! 

Don't miss this last home series of the regular season!