Walks sink Rams in season opener

Walks will drive baseball coaches crazy and on Friday at Fraser Field, they proved to be the undoing of the Classical baseball team.Georgetown worked the Rams pitching tandem of Greg Rybak and Kyle Gauthier for six walks, turning them into four runs as the Royals held off a late Classical charge to take a 9-8 win in the season opener for both teams.”If we can fight like that all year, we will be fine,” Classical coach Mike Zukowski said. “I was happy with the way we hit the ball, but we made a couple of mental mistakes that killed us.”Click here for more photosThe runs came early and often on Friday as Georgetown got a pair off Rybak in the top of the first before the Rams got those back on Angel Tavares’ two-out single in the bottom of the inning.Classical(0-1) pushed in front in the bottom of the second when Wilfredo Feliz tripled with two down and scored on Gauthier’s base hit.Then the wheels came off the Classical bus momentarily in the top of the third. Walks to Ryan Browner and Adam Johnson preceded a fielder’s choice from Jeff Moore that loaded the bases.Mark Berkland followed with a walk before Will Ingraham and Jared Lathrop each drove home two runs to give Georgetown a 7-3 lead and knock Rybak from the game. Gauthier came on in relief and was rudely greeted by Ryan O’Rourke’s RBI single to make it 8-3.”Walks will kill you,” Zukowski said. “And that was the case (Friday).”The Royals got another run in the top of the fifth before Classical began its charge.Gauthier and Kyle Devin ripped back-to-back doubles to make it 9-4. Rybak followed with a hit that plated Devin before Jorge Perez singled with two outs to cut the lead to 9-6.Ryan Hayward then reached on a dropped fly ball, allowing Perez to come in to cut the lead to a pair of runs before Browner got out of further damage.Classical got another run in the bottom of the sixth when Feliz singled and scored on a wild pitch with two outs. The Rams would have a chance to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh when Tavares led off with a double, but pinch runner Sam Rios was thrown out by a perfect throw from Browner while trying to tag on a foul pop.