The Newton Rams baseball team was handed its second defeat in a row by Grayson High Wednesday night, suffering a 3-0 loss in game two of its three-game series with the Bears.

After losing the previous five games, the Rams were looking for a bounce back after getting shut out Monday 6-0 at the hands of their region 8-AAAAAAA foe. However, missed opportunities offensively plagued the Rams all evening.

“(This game) is very similar to the last one,” said Newton head coach Andre Byrd. “We pitched good, we played okay defense, but we just can’t score offensively.”

Lack of offensive scoring has dogged the Rams during their six-game skid. In their first 10 games, the Rams held a 7-3 record and tallied 71 total runs. Since their last win against Murray County on March 4 the Rams have lost their last six games while only mustering four total runs.

“When it comes to executing, the kids are doing a poor job.” Byrd said.

The team showed signs of strength in pitching and defense while only allowing runs off errors against Grayson. Despite some strong hitting at times, such as senior second baseman Sterling Waller hitting a double, or Junior catcher/pitcher Parker Kauffman making it to second base, putting the runners in scoring position was all the Rams could do before strikeouts, groundouts and flyouts left many players on base.

The Rams will head to Grayson Friday looking to avoid a sweep and hoping to come home with a much-needed win. For Coach Byrd, the game plan is simple.

“If we can score some runs and put some pressure on them, we’ll be okay,” he said. “The minute we do (score some runs) I’ll jump for joy, but we’re just not scoring.”

The six-game losing streak has brought the Rams overall record to 7-9 while being winless in region play. The team’s next series after Grayson is a three-game stint against Shiloh High School.