Rams off to a rough start

It's been a tough week for the defending Class 2 state baseball champions.

Scott City opened its season with a 9-8 loss to Jackson on Monday, then suffered a 2-1 defeat at Valle Catholic on Wednesday.

The good news out of Wednesday's game was the pitching of Skylar Cobb. He's going to be an important cog in the Rams' season, and he threw well against a talented Valle team. I covered the district title game between Saxony Lutheran and Valle last year, and I was impressed with Valle pitcher Nathan Geile.

But here's the problem for the Rams -- they're going to see everyone's No. 1 starter. So they're going to have to figure out a way to put up runs against top-notch pitchers. It should be interesting to see if the Rams can make adjustments and get on a roll.

Scott City only lost two starters from last year's team, but those two players -- Ryan Modglin and Cody Carlyle -- could hit like nobody's business. Those guys smacked the ball around and put runs on the board. The Rams will need someone to fill those shoes.

It's obviously way too early to jump off the Rams' ship, even though they've suffered more losses this week than all of last season. The Rams will be a solid team, especially if Cobb continues to pitch the way he did Wednesday. But that doesn't make this week any easier to swallow for Rams fans.