After a hard couple losses in a row we find ourselves heading to the ritzy side of town to face Sturt. This is one game that would really show us where we are situated coming into the pointy end of the season.
With daisy back from bight duties and ready to give everything he had the boys started off pretty good.
We had plenty of opportunities to score early but unfortunately couldn't capitalise.
Our first run came from a solo shot from no other than Lachlan McGearey. He had a fantastic day for us and also in the earlier game.
The boys battled hard all day but unfortunately a couple of errors and then Sturt Saints really took advantage of us.
We came back with a couple in the last but was all out of reach. Going down 7/5.
A good day had by Daisy and Hilly on the mound and Mags with the stick .
A massive week for our squad with Tuesday at Norths and ladies day at the bay. Both must win games to keep in touch with the finals field.
Let's smash it boys
The young studs took the short drive up the hill to where the saints go marching in to take on a Sturt outfit only one game back from us.
The game got underway and we scored first up with Tyson Arnold having a rare appearance in division 2 due to sunning himself in Bali over the break, smashing a base hit to right stealing second and getting to third on the catchers over throw. Scoring on Joe Gluyas excellent right side ground out bays up one nil.
Burns got the start again after his excellent performance the week before and took to the mound. We quickly realized that these saints aren’t like the saints of old and they quickly answered with two of their own. No sweat said coach Mags and hit a deep fly ball over the centerfield fence to level it back up.
Burns having little trouble with the lower half of the saints band of brothers got us back in to hit again. Steff copping one and an excellent hit and run chop to third by Rion allowing Steff to get to third and him safe at first bought Adam Wurfel to the plate. Rion stealing second allowed the big guy to almost kill the short stop with a base hit to left scoring two.
Burns again marched through the lower half of the saints order to get us back into hit the highlight being Jacob Eldridge making a great play over his head to not only get the second out but stop the runner from scoring from third.
Will then went up to bat walked stole second and then scoring on Joe Gluyas soft liner to right had us up 5 to 4 as the time started closing in on us
The Saints would not go away and after working his behind off in the heat Burns gave way to Flynn. With 2 outs and runners on the corners Flynn got the ground ball needed but it unfortunately was a little too up the middle to make a play on saints tie it up. Flynn getting the next guy to ground out to third inning over. We could not muster anything next time up and Flynn worked a one to three 6th inning to give us one more try. Adam snuck one down the right field line to give us some hope but it was not to be. Game over like so many games played in Europe she ended in a draw
All in all we played okay, it was a little bit disappointing though watching guys hitting homeruns and getting rbi singles and no one really getting up and applauding each other. Baseball is an individual sport wrapped in a team game but picking each other up and showing a positive mind set to what you are all doing will make the game a hell of a lot easier and a lot more fun. Trust the guys who have been around it doesn’t take much to make an effort.
On wards and upwards
The Big Dawgs rib tickler.
A warm day greeted us at home for our matchup against an unknown Sturt team whose results included great wins, and other games not so much. With this in mind we needed to be on to get this W. I stoked the fire a bit with some pregame banter and flipped the pill to Lachy Eldridge to get things under way, a 1-2-3 innings started proceedings in a nice way for the home team.
An RBI double to Craig Handy got us on the board in the first and set the tone for a fair day with the bat for Bender getting on base every time and driving in a few. Jamie Kloeden wound the clock back with a 2 run johnson. No Game had another good outing on the hill and flipped it over to Tristan Stevens to preserve the W and record the final 4 outs. Both guys looked sharp on the bump for a combined 6 inning shutout.
The Big Dawg Deeble was back in action, the smell of the postgame ribs cook up enough to stir up his bat again with a couple of knocks, including a 2 run single. A pretty good performance all around, but we are still looking to get better with each outing.
They say all good things must come to an end, and unfortunately on Saturday the Al Gores had their season long winning streak snapped by a well drilled Sturt outfit.
We came into the game knowing it would be a tough contest, and that’s exactly what we got. Our lineup was strengthened by the return of the Colonel who took over at second base, having an immediate impact as he rolled a sweet double play in the top of the first with the help of his pivot buddy in V-dub. A strikeout from Hollywood Holmes finished the top of the first before the Tiges also came up empty in our half of the first.
After three innings this one was all pitching as the John Lydon inspired Burns/Hollywood (Burns…take me down..tinsel town) duel had this one scoreless through three tough innings. The visitors took the lead with a three hit inning in the 4th, however some great work from Hollywood kept the visitors to a solitary run when a big inning threatened. As our boys do, they fought back in the bottom of the inning with walks to Freezer and the Fenomenon followed by some great running as the Sturty 3B man heard our boy shout “ A Freeze Is caaaahming!” as the great man goose-stepped into 3rd with a steal. The Krajinator then singled in both runners before the Colonel walked and Killer knocked in the good guys third run.
The Tiges held the 3-1 lead until the 6th inning when the Saints didn’t do what the band of the same name stated in their 1977 hit as five hits and two walks left not enough of their runners “stranded far from home”, as they added a six spot to take a 7-3 lead, which happened to also remain as the final score.
All in all a disappointing loss, but plenty to take from the game – some quality at bats from Mr. Freeze, timely hitting by the Krajinator, excellent defense by all and a gutsy complete game from Hollywood in tough conditions.
We take this on the chin, work on how we can get better and look forward to our next game whenever the sun decides to calm the **** down!
Longest road trip for the year seen us take on the Dodgers a team we had a tight tussle with earlier in the year that ended in a 9 all draw.
Some good hitting by Squid & Thommo seen us post an early run, which could've been two if Thommo didn't stumble his way around 3rd on a over throw.
Maddog flipped the pill to 3 votes Bradey, and he was in stellar form working through 3 shutout innings, as tacked on a another run via hits to Bayles, Thommo & Lenny.
Going into the bottom 4th 2-0 up a good game brewing, momentum changed and the Dodgers put up a 4 spot, to arrest the lead 4-2. Not to be outdone, Sanga, Squid, Bayles & Thommo combine to all score , good guys now in front 6-4 again.
With Bradey done on the hill, coach Maddog makes in interesting by flipping the pill to Lenny, the Dodgers eyes light up and they score 5 to take a 9-6 lead into the last.
Needing something big the Tiges bat through the line up and score 5. Sanga then comes in as the close guy, and snuffs out any Dodger comeback with help from 3 votes nice double play to end the game.
We played very well. Marty again good solid outing on the mound, managed to hold them I came in as a fire man for 1 inning and Max Stagg closed off in good style. Defensive ok a few little mistakes not too bad
Again everybody hit well, Darcy Gluyas the standout and Alan was good again ,we certainly had our chances to win just didn’t get it done
Hopefully next week
Win #2 on the board...!!
This was a day of extremes – it was 36 degrees at start time, we went in with only one recognised pitcher and a few fill-ins due to players being unavailable, and we had a disagreement with the club umpire in the 3rd innings which could have all turned sour from there... but despite the occasional glimpses of Div 6 baseball that continually threatens our success, the team fought out a tough battle in uncomfortable conditions to emerge with our second win for the season.
Pottsy pitched the whole 7 innings and we scored all our runs late – 2 in the 5th, 5 in the 6th, and 2 in the 7th, coming from behind for a well-deserved win.
Highlights were:
Apart from that, we had a couple of close plays that nearly came off – including a near-double play from 1st to 2nd that was only a bee’s genitalia from being a slick double out.
Assistant Coach Abroe was absent but will have to fight his way back into the line-up to taste success again this season. Everyone got safe hits apart from Harry but he had them psyched out anyway and they threw anything close to him wild...
Thanks to everyone for a sterling effort in the heat – special thanks to our fill-ins, Blake, Kaino and Tom.
