Baseball: Heat on luckless Rams

After a disappointing 1-0 loss against the Wembley Magpies last Friday night, the Rockingham Rams State League side were hopeful of redemption when they again took on Wembley away on Sunday.

But they were again out of luck, going down by a single run.

In hot, humid conditions, it was again the task of Rams’ pitcher Jeff Wishart to spearhead the defence.

Wishart was on song early, controlling his pitches and keeping the Magpies hitters guessing.

Rams’ import third baseman Troy Scott got things started for the Ramswith a solo shot in the fourth, while Wishart continued to dominate on the mound.

In the top of the eighth innings, the Rams again threatened with two runners on and one out, but a double play ended the innings and gave the Magpies a little momentum, which helped them tie the gameinthe bottom of the eighth at 1-1.

With scores still 1-1 after nine complete, the game was sent into an extra innings.

The Rams again threatened in the top of the 10th, but failed to drive in the run only to see the Magpies string together back-to-back hits in the bottom of the 10th and hand the Rams another one-run loss, 2-1.

Wishart was outstanding on the mound, but run support was again lacking.

The Rams AAA lost 11-0 to Wembley.

The Rams colts played outstanding defence behind starting pitcher Corey Kennedy to help lead the side to a dominating 11-0 win.

Kennedy threw three scoreless innings before being replaced with Brandon Burt, who helped keep the shutout in tact with another two scoreless innings.

Best with the bat for the Rams was right-fielder Luke Villa, who had three doubles.

Burt and Steve Hewitt also contributed with back-to-back home runs.

The Rams single A side found themselves 6-0 down after four innings, only to mount a fantastic comeback and finish the game with a 6-6 draw, sharing the honours with Wembley.

Clutch hits from Steve Sullivan and Quenton Ballard helped theRams post a five-run sixth innings, which was enough to tie the game.

When both teams failed to score in the seventh, the game was called to due to time.

The Rams C-grade matched the Carine Cats early, only to let 11 Cats runs cross in the last two innings, leading to a disappointing 16-5 loss.

Carine were aided by five Rams errors.

The Rams D-grade side had their first real challenge of the season when they took on second-placed Kalamunda Rangers away on Sunday.

The Rams let a comfortable 9-1 lead slip to a 10-8 lead on the back of some poor fielding.

A home run to Andy Willars and three hits to Roy Fryer helped steady the Rams and keep their undefeated start to the season in tact with a 12-8 win.