Rams baseball team still winless at home

Home hasn’t been sweet so far for the Maricopa baseball team. The Rams lost twice on Friday, which kept them winless on their home field and in the Matt Huffman Tournament.

Rams coach Charles Barbee isn’t sure why his team (4-6) has fared well on the road only to lose all four of its home games to start the season. “I don’t know if it’s the nervousness of playing at home (in front of family and friends) or what,” he said.

Maricopa lost 4-1 to St. Johns on Friday afternoon in its final pool-play game to drop to 0-3 in the tournament.

St. Johns scored all the runs it needed in the bottom of the first inning. With one man on, The Redskins’ Garrett Anderson hit a hard shot to center field, where the Rams’ K. J. Diehl’s valiant effort to snag the ball with a diving catch came up a bit short. The ball rolled all the way back to the wall of the expansive outfield, allowing Anderson an inside-the-park home run. St. Johns added another run in the inning when Steven Lindsay drew a walk, advanced to third on an errant pick-off throw to first and then scored on a wild pitch.

Maricopa scored its lone run in the fourth when first baseman Spencer Wilson drove in Kolter Hunt with a triple.

The Rams were hindered at times by a strike zone that seemed to vary wildly throughout the game. Several called strikes in the latter innings appeared to be well below the batters’ knees.

“I don’t know what to say. I just told the kids not to swing at it,” Barbee said. “You can’t teach them to swing at something that far out of the strike zone.”

Pitcher Joey Kelly did a solid job after relieving Charlie Baker in the second inning. The sophomore didn’t allow a run or a walk, gave up just one hit and struck out five.

“I was very pleased with our pitching,” Barbee said. “Both of them just came up from junior varsity and they gave us valuable innings.”

Maricopa’s recent penchant for errors didn’t appear in a big way in the game against St. Johns; the Rams had two miscues in the afternoon contest. However, the morning game against Tucson Santa Rita, a 5-4 loss, was another story. Maricopa had a 3-0 lead entering the fourth inning, only to allow Santa Rita to score five unearned runs in that frame.

Barbee understandably wasn’t happy with the mistakes. “Twenty-four errors in 10 games, that’s too many,” he said. “I don’t know what that is, because we started out like gangbusters catching the baseball.”

Matt Clark had two RBIs and Justin Warren drove in a run for the Rams in the first game.

Despite the Rams’ struggles in front of the home crowd, Barbee was confident his players could overcome their mini-slump at home.

“Once they get that first home win – we hope that’s Tuesday against Coolidge – I think they’ll be on their way, because their defense will come around,” he said.

Photo by David Argabright