By ADEM SARICAOGLU
THE pass mark for Newport was probably to stay ahead of .500 in its first year back as a Division One baseball team.
The Rams ended up doing slightly better than that, finishing up their 2013/14 campaign last week third in Conference Two with 13 wins and a draw coming from their 25 outings.
While Newport was never really in contention to trouble finals-bound Geelong and Essendon in the win-percentage column, the Rams did manage to knock Geelong over twice in the final month of the regular season.
Coach Grant Weir was obviously pleased with his side’s competitiveness in the top flight, but did admit a few more wins would have been nice.
“If you measure it up overall, you’d probably think we were above par from how I thought we would go,” Weir said.
“So I’ll probably give us an above-average pass. I am disappointed we didn’t win more games, but you then have a look at the games we did win and to finish above .500 was a great effort.”
Having continuity through the week-to-week line-up proved difficult for Newport this summer, as the club was forced into making changes for just about every game.
What did remain consistent all summer, however, was the all-round brilliance of import in-fielder Travis Bass.
With 28 hits and 17 RBIs, Bass was the clear standout for Newport alongside pitchers Jeremy Young and Griffin Weir.
“He’ll go really well in the league MVP trophy – and he’ll probably win our MVP award easily,” Weir said of Bass.
“Defensively, when he played in the in-field he was brilliant, he was our second leading hitter and he was our leading pitcher, so overall he’s made a really positive impact and I think he’s probably the best import that Newport have had in a long time.”
After meeting with the club’s board last week, Weir has decided to remain on deck ahead of the 2014/15 season.
