By Staff
NILES - The Greater Niles Baseball League opened its season Monday evening.
The Yankees and the Rangers met on opening night, where the Yankees grabbed a 9-8 win in eight innings.
The opener started with singles from Jeremy Zimmerman, Jesse McComb, and Derek Nichols in the first inning for the Rangers.
The second inning started with a single from Josh Hayden to start a two-run rally for the Rangers, only to be stopped by a defensive double play by the Yankees shortstop, Alex Bellaire and first-baseman Mitch Peterek.
With the score 6-2 in favor of the Rangers at the bottom of the sixth inning, Ralph Sater singled for the Yankees followed by a single for Alex Bellaire.
Sean Smith forced a run in when he walked with bases loaded. Brent Gillespie then doubled bringing in three RBIs to tie the game.
The score remained tied through the seventh inning.
In the eighth inning, the Rangers scored two more runs on four walks and an error.
The Yankees then loaded the bases on walks at the bottom of the eighth. Justin Utley singled bringing in two RBIs to tie the ball game for the second time.
The winning run, scored by Dustin Craig, resulted during an error throw.
Top hitters on the night for the Rangers were McCombs had two singles and a double, Nichols, Jeremy Zimmerman, Hayden and Riley Robson all had one single and Dustin Bell with a double.
For the Yankees, Peterek had a single with one RBI, Sater and Bellaire each had one single, Brent Gillesipie had a double with three RBIs and Justin Utley had single with two RBIs