In a day that looked to be going smoothly through 6 innings turned sour pretty quickly.
Wes Roemer took the ball for us and kept the WT hitters off balance all day throwing 5 2/3 innings allowing 2 runs on the day.
Offensively we hit the ball hard all game with Dale Ziersch leading the charge collecting 4 hits and Terrell Joyce adding another homerun to his collection.
Matt Williams came on to strand the tying run on base in the 6th. Heading into the 7th leading 3-2, WT managed to put up 3 runs to take the lead. We loaded the bases with 1 out in the bottom of the frame but couldn’t come up with the clutch hit going down 5-3.
Unfortunately things went from bad to worse in game 2 as WT jumped out of the blocks scoring 9 runs in the first inning and 4 in the second to put the game out of reach.
Not much positive to pull from this game except for the 2 perfect frames pitched by Greg Mosel as he works his way back from an arm injury and a towering homerun by Max Brown.
With a result like this the best thing to do it put that game behind us. These days happen in baseball and its how we respond that will show the true character of this team.
I look forward to this weekends double header vs Woodville as we battle it out for a top 6th berth.
With top spot up for grabs we knew the weekends game against West Torrens was going to be a tough one. Burns took to the hill and got through the first without any dramas but ran into a rough spot during the second as they piled on three quick runs. We retaliated with one of our own. Steff replaced Burns for the next two frames as the Eagles managed another couple of runs, extending their lead to four.
Loy lead the charge in the fifth with a lead off double, eventually scoring as we slowly closed the gap. We cut the lead to two during the sixth as Hill doubled and scored, but this is as close as we would come.
We didn’t struggle to get hits on the day, we just couldn’t string enough of them together. Defensively we let ourselves down…four of their runs scored as a result of walks, obviously making it difficult to get outs when we are giving away free bases.
This was a good ‘warm up’ leading into finals where we will no doubt face off with the Eagles again, next time putting up a W.
The Big Dawg bites back.
With The Eagles sitting inside the top 6 we again would face a quality opponent. The Big Dawg Deeble drew another leadoff walk and Ben Clavell would knock in our first run of the game with a double off the fence in left. Jayden Eldridge took to the hill and got straight to work, retiring them 1-2-3 in the first.
The hits kept on coming with all starters getting some green pencil next to their name in the book. Ending up with 14 runs on the back of 17 hits, it’s safe to say we had a nice day with the bat. Jamie Kloeden and The Big Dawg driving in some extra runs with a couple of doubles to keep the scoreboard ticking over.
Jayden had done his job and flipped the ball over to his older cous and Gamer Eldridge went about throwing a solid 3 in relief. The Standard Unit fielding bunts and picking guys off was a nice sight to see.
We fielded well and Clavell throwing out a couple of would be base stealers helped our cause along the way.
With home finals looming now is the time for us to focus in what we want from this year. We have worked to get ourselves in the best position possible, but we still have one game to play, and I more than certain as a group, we will be up for the final challenge of the regular season.
Another rough road trip for the Al Gores as we went down to a very solid Eagles outfit at Van Pelt Park. Kymbo Slice was gallant on the hill but our bats were just not up to scratch despite a strong return to form from Zooterman and a solid cameo from V-Dub.
Early in the game there was some tidy leather flashed from the Tiger infield as we fought to stay in the game. Trailing by just a couple we managed to get runners on the Jack Corbetts – but more than once what looked like run scoring hits were taken away by the baseball gods and some Willy Mays inspired Eagle catches in the deep.
Just seven hits (including two from V-Dub and a monster Johnson from Zooter) isn’t enough, and the boys know we need to pull out all stops as we head into finals time in less than two weeks.
The ladder now shows Sturty, West Torrens and us with identical 12-3-1 records with one round to play, leaving us in a more precarious position than Michael Caine and Noel Coward’s bus at the end of the original “Italian Job”.
Hopefully some home cooking in the last minor round game can inspire us to “blow the bloody doors off”!
Not the result we were hoping for on a wet and windy day at the Angels trotting track. After a few digs and a rain delay we found ourselves down 11-2 which wasn't the best place to be. But a huge positive to come out of this game was how the lads kept their heads and lit up the bats, pegging the score back to 11-9. A couple more late runs from the Angels made things a bit tougher and in the final dig we couldn't get the hits we needed. Mead threw well for the start, and Holmesy was solid in relief. There is a pretty good chance that we will meet Adelaide again in the first week of the finals so hopefully we can turn the tables then.
Sanga dominated. Kobe Underwood dominated with the errors. Dr Bob dominated his shoulder. Chappel dominated his pimped helmet. Bradey dominated his hot chips and pitching. Big Daddy Ekburg dominated with his Eeephus. Bayles dominated Guns N Roses. Oborn dominated his fielding. Hague dominated with stealing when it was called off.
Hits
5 – SANGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
4 – Chappel, Lurker, Bradey
2 – Bayles, Foletti, Hague, Kobe
1 – Ekky, Dr Bob
Jugs
2 – Kobe
1 – Dr Bob
We pitched Mouse and he was very strong and confident I had to take him out only because his pitch count was high ,Marty closed and he was extremely unlucky a few blooper and some tough calls will do it.
We fielded just ok too many mistakes probably where the game was lost, Paul Luders did well a stand out at first base.
Julian Day and Leo Huttumen hit well with some good times at bat from Paul luders ,we certainly missed Leon with the bat.
Got Port next week and then looking forward to the finals just keeping all players fit and confident.
This week we took on the Tigers in the Div 7 derby.
A close game was anticipated as the Tigers, on a 4-game winning streak, are in a tight battle to finish in the top six as the regular season draws to a close.
Whilst much discussion took place in the lead to the game it was important for a few of our players to get some game time under their belts, and with three regular players missing from our line up through travel or injury, this game provided the perfect opportunity.
As the “visitors” we batted first, but despite getting two batters on base their subsequent attempts to steal (or get picked off) resulted in both getting out and we quickly found ourselves in the field.
The Tigers got the scoreboard ticking over in the bottom of the first, with their lead off getting walked and advanced around the bases with the support from the following hitters.
We scored our first run in the second and held the Tigers scoreless - so a 1-all game existed after two.
In the end it was the third innings that opened the game up for us as we benefited from both good hitting from our line up and some missed opportunities from the Tigers defence, scoring the maximum seven runs. In the bottom of the third the Tigers fought back with four hits, quickly scoring a run and then loading up the basis, but could not convert further.
Another two runs were scored by us in the fourth. Dave Mitchell, who started on the hill for us, was relieved by Chris Day. Daisy, slowly making his way back to full match fitness, was challenged by the Tigers as they recorded another three hits and clawed two runs back.
After four innings the scoreboard read 4-10 in favour of the visitors.
Daisy, deciding one inning on the hill was enough, flipped the ball to Peter Fenwick and returned to first base for the fifth. Fenwick threw the remaining three innings in a solid performance.
Despite the final score reading 5-16 in favour of the visitors, a glance of the scorebook showed a much closer game. The safe hit count was 11 (Tigers) to 15 and the number of runners left on base was 9 (Tigers) to 11.
This week we look forward to finishing the minor round with our Division 3 to 7 teams all playing at home on what should be a big day for the Club.