Free passes and hit batsmen.

They were the undoing for the Valley Central baseball team on Wednesday as four Vikings pitchers combined for eight walks and three hit batsmen in a 12-3 loss to the Newburgh Free Academy Goldbacks at Valley Central High School.

“Can’t throw a strike” Valley Central coach Robert Leonard said. “You can’t put 13 or 14 guys on base at this level and expect to stay in a game. If we don’t do that, we stay in games. We’re not that good to be able to get away with that.”

Leonard used four pitchers in the game, starting with Danny Bello, who threw the first inning.

He gave up the Goldbacks’ first run on a single by Tyler Martin and an RBI double by Dylan Iorlano, who then came around on a wild pitch and a passed ball to give Newburgh a 2-0 lead.

Bello walked the first batter in the second before giving way to Jason Murphy, who gave up a single and two walks to give Newburgh a 3-0 lead.

The Vikings were able to take care of some questionable Newburgh defense in the second inning when Murphy led off with a single and then went to second when John Scotto reached on an error by Newburgh right fielder Nick Schmidt.

Murphy scored on Chris Byrne’s base hit and Scotto also came around to score to pull the Vikings to within 3-2.

The Vikings put runners on base in every inning except the fourth but were only able to push runs across in the second and sixth innings.