By ADEM SARICAOGLU
SUNSHINE Eagles coach Earl Byrne does not believe his side has forgotten how to win a game of baseball just yet.
That’s despite the fact Sunshine remains the only team in Division One baseball yet to win a single game this season.
The luckless Eagles remain 0-6 after falling narrowly short of victory on the road against Blackburn 7-6 on Sunday.
Despite watching his side’s losing streak stretch to six, Byrne remained very upbeat after the game.
“We were pretty stiff,” Byrne said.
“We made a couple of little blunders at critical times that cost us late in the game but overall I was reasonably happy with the boys.
“They kept at it all game for the whole nine innings, so that was pretty good.”
Byrne remains adamant his troops are still confident their first win is just around the corner.
But the coach does admit his side has to remain wary about becoming too despondent about its horrid start to the summer.
“We need to be careful of our mindset in games because we could end up forgetting how to win,” Byrne said.
“I don’t think we’re in that mindset just yet but we do have to watch it.
“We have a bunch of guys that keep trying week in week out and they do believe we’re not far off winning some games, so as long as we’ve still got that belief, I think we can still win.”
The Eagles will get their chance at revenge this Wednesday evening at Altona’s Melbourne Ballpark, where they’ll again face Blackburn.
Adam Irons, who was Sunshine’s best hitter on Sunday, will most likely be the Eagles’ starting pitcher for that game.
“I think we match up against Blackburn pretty well,” Byrne said.
“We’ll probably have Adam Irons, who’s a quality pitcher for us, so I think we’ll be in pretty good stead on Wednesday night to win our first game.”
Sunshine’s battle with Blackburn will be followed by a game between Upwey and Essendon on Wednesday evening, while Newport will face Sandringham in the second game to be played at the Melbourne Ballpark tonight (Tuesday).
