Newport Rams fumbled a three-run lead in a disappointing 5-4 loss to the Sandringham Royals in the Baseball Victoria summer league division 1.
A sloppy play in the last inning cost the Rams on Sunday, with the batter who reached base on a Travis Bass error being driven in off the pitching of Jeremy Young.
Rams assistant coach Gavin Young was left frustrated after watching his side give up a healthy lead for the second time this season.
“It’s another one that got away,” he said. “We’ve got to learn how to win these close ones, do that little bit more earlier in the game so we’re not left in these situations.”
Leading 4-1 after five innings, the Rams were in a position of power. Lead-off batter Jordan Young was seeing the ball well with two hits and a walk and Bass had two hits to go with a strong 5.2 innings on the mound.
“In division 1 … sides are going to keep coming and are not going to give up,” Gavin Young said.
“We just haven’t learnt to be that mentally tough yet. We just became complacent, had opportunities and didn’t capitalise and at the end when the pressure was on we faltered.”
Matt Lawman, pitching in relief for the Rams, picked up the loss after conceding three runs in the sixth. But to nitpick one aspect of the Rams’ game and blame it for the loss would be unfair.
“It was a bit of everything,” Young said. “We had opportunities late in the game in the batting box with runners on [but] we couldn’t do the job there.
“We got into trouble with our pitching, walked a couple late in the game to let them tie. Then in the last inning, we made an error to put a guy on, and they scored him. You can’t do that late in games.”
The Rams play Melbourne at KC White Reserve on Sunday.
