Travis Bass is in the zone for the Newport Rams.
Bass has thrown three complete games in as many weeks in the Baseball Victoria summer league division 1, with his latest grinding effort guiding the Rams to a hard-fought 7-2 win over the Preston Pirates at KC White Reserve on Sunday.
Rams assistant coach Gavin Young told the Weekly that Bass returned to Australia at the start of the summer with an under-utilised arm and had to work up to the three-game, 126-pitch marathon.
Aside from piling up the wins, the Bass solo efforts are protecting the younger arms in the rotation.
“When he came from overseas, he hadn’t done a real lot of pitching,” Young said. “His arm is really good now; he’s finding the zone and has movement on his balls.
“He’s been a lot more efficient in what he’s doing, which is allowing him to go longer in games. It’s good because it’s saving a lot of the other guys we’ve got.”
Bass was by no means flawless against the Pirates. He gave up eight hits, but registered seven strikeouts.
He got into trouble in the last, loading up the bases with the tying run on deck, but such is coach Grant Weir’s faith in the experienced import, he was allowed to get himself out of the mess.
“Travis has got that killer instinct about him,” Young said.
“He wants to stay out there … it’s good to have a guy like that where you’re going to have to drag him off in a sense.”
To make it easier for Bass, the Rams got a heap of production out of their bats.
The Malthouse brothers – Troy, with two hits, two walks and an RBI, and Scot, with two hits, a walk and three RBIs – led the way. They also had a stolen base each.
Dean Anglin enjoyed his first multiple-hit game for the year with two hits, a walk and two RBIs.
Young was pleased with the spread of contributors.
“It was a different bunch of guys hitting today,” he said. “Some who were struggling with the bat came through for us.”
The Rams will play back-to-back games against the Geelong Baycats in Geelong on Saturday and at the Melbourne Ball Park in Altona on Tuesday.
