Errors, Mental Mistakes Doom Post 14 Baseball

The Needham Legion baseball team lost 10-5 at Canton on Tuesday in an uncharacteristically sloppy game.

The team made seven errors, including four in the first inning to give Canton (2-3) an early 5-0 lead.

"You can't make seven errors, you can't do that," an incredulous coach John Gallello said.

Two Canton runners, one in the first inning, another in the third, also scored from third base on passed balls to the plate. Later, in the fifth inning, Canton scored from third to go up 10-4 when Needham's signals got crossed and no one got under an infield fly-ball.

Despite being down 9-0 and one-hit entering the fifth inning, Needham (1-4) kept fighting.

In the fifth, they finally reached Canton starter Dan Friedman, scoring four runs and knocking him out of the game.

Center fielder Bobby Atkinson drew a leadoff walk. Third baseman Mike Green then grounded into a fielder's choice, and right fielder Nick Shaheen got him across with a deep RBI double.

Left fielder Brad Holland then drew his third walk of the game, Friedman's sixth, to put two on with one out. First baseman Sam Kane, shortstop Eric Arnao and designated hitter Tom Fitzgerald followed Holland with consecutive RBI on a single, sacrifice fly and single, respectively, to pull Needham within five and force Canton to go to its bullpen.

Needham scored its final run in the seventh inning, as Kane went yard over the 330-foot left field fence. Arnao also had two hits, along with his RBI.

Even in the midst of a small comeback, however, the team continued to struggle at times. In addition to the dropped fly-ball in the fifth, two Needham base runners were thrown out after not following coaches' orders.

"You can't think on your own in baseball, you have to listen to your coaches," Gallello said. "We could've made it interesting. It just took us out of the game."

Allen Bailey started for Needham and went two innings in the loss. Mark Cunningham, Atkinson and Zack Borson all pitched in relief.