Rams butted out in absolute thriller

The Rockingham Rams travelled to Winnacott Reserve on Sunday to take on the Melville Braves, with the State League side losing 7-6 in an entertaining clash.

It was always going to be a tight battle, with two Perth Heat pitchers, Jacob Clem for the Rams and Daniel Schmidt for the Braves, going head to head.

Troy Scott got the scoring started with a solo shot dead centre to give the Rams a one run lead.

But the Braves responded with a two-run home run.

In the fifth innings, Rams second baseman Tyler Keeping drove in the tying run with a single to centre.

The Braves rallied in the sixth to pick up two runs, but Clem was able to cut that lead back to one with a solo home run to left field.

In the seventh innings, Clem was replaced by Benn Grice, who was able to close out the inning.

With the Braves up 4-3 and the Rams having a runner and second base with two out, the Braves intentionally walked Scott to get to Grice.

The move didn’t pay off for the Braves, with Grice launching the full count delivery well over the left field fence to give the Rams a two-run lead.

But a Rams error to start the bottom of the eighth innings allowed the Braves to score.

The Rams were again unable to keep the Braves from scoring as they tied the game at 6-6 and sent it into an extra innings.

Some sloppy bunt coverage and some aggressive base running from the Braves saw them load the bases with none out, and the Rams could not stop them scoring a walk off 8-7 victory.

The AAA game wasn’t so close, with the Braves earning a mercy rule 12-0 win.

The colts game went a similar way, with the Rams facing solid pitching and going down 13-0.

The Single A side blew an 8-1 lead to draw 11-11.

C-Grade jumped to an early 10-0 lead thanks to two doubles to Benny Alemseged.

With Rams pitcher Andrew Hepburn tiring, the Morley Eagles fought back, but Hepburn steadied, giving the side their second consecutive win with an 11-7 scoreline.

D-Grade got back t o winning ways with a 17-3 thumping of second-placed Peel.

Danny Williams collected 14 strike-outs and Darren Burns had three hits.