ABL Week 7 - vs Canberra Cavalry

So after having the week off for week 6 of the season we were ready to rip in the the Canberra Cavalry. We added David Kandilas to the roster as well as Major League pitcher Brad Thomas.

Game 1
We won this game 1-0 and as the score suggests, it was a real pitchers duel. The only run that was scored in the game came in the 1st inning thanks to a Tyler Collins single which scored Mitch Dening from 3rd base. Craig Anderson, Matt Williams and Dae-Sung Koo combined to keep the Cavalry bats quiet all night with only 1 runner getting to 3rd base the entire game. Like in most 1-0 ball games, not much happened.

Game 2
We won this game 3-2 on a walk-off walk in the bottom of the 11th inning. We were down 2-0 heading into the 9th before we started a little rally and eventually tied it up when we were down to our last out. Mitch Dening hit a line drive single to left field to score the run from 3rd to send us into extra innings. Things became a little interesting in the bottom of the 9th though. As Tyler Collins grounded out to end the 9th words were shared between him and the Cavalry pitcher and then all of a sudden the benches had cleared. Once all that died down no team managed to get much going until we mounted another rally in the 11th. With loaded bases, the man that was in the middle of the benches clearing drove in the winning run, on a walk-off walk. Funny thing was, that he forgot that he had to go touch first base. He was ready to celebrate with the team, but we were all yelling at him to run up the line. So it was an entertaining night and we ended up on the right end of the scoreboard.

Game 3
We ran out 7-0 winners in game 3 of the series. It was a great all round team performance led by the dominant pitching by starter Aiden Francis who went 6 2/3 innings giving up 0 runs on 3 hits. Everyone that came up to bat got on base with Joey Hage going 3 for 4. It was a good game of baseball as we executed in the box with runners on base as well as playing really good defence.
With most games theres always something funny that stands out. In this case it came in the 4th inning when Jacob Younis lined a ball into centerfield when Pat Maat was on 2nd base. As Pat was rounding 3rd base and heading home the catcher had already received the ball when pat was about 10 feet away from the plate. Like most plays at home that are close the runner will most likely try and take out the catcher. Since Pat Maat is a big boy, he decided he would try and take out the catcher to dislodge the ball, but instead, the catcher got out of the way and gave Pat a clear path to home plate. You got to love baseball, see something new everyday.

Game 4
We completed the sweep with a resounding 11-0 victory. Once again we had great starting pitcher as Vaughan Harris continued his good form the throwing 7 shutout innings. Brandon Barnes and Boss Moanaroa each got 3 hits a piece with Boss adding the final blow to the Cavalry in the 8th inning with a 3 run home run. The 3-6 hitters in our lineup went a combined 9 for 19, scored 7 runs and 8 runs batted in. I threw the 9th inning in this game. The first runner got on base via an error, and then I retired the next 3 hitters to end the game. If you have been following my blog all year you will have noticed I am extremely superstitious. I usually wear my socks up when I pitch, but when I pitch at Blue Sox Stadium I had an era above 16.00. So I thought I needed to change it up a bit and I wore my pants down for this series. Guess from now on I will wear my pants down at home games.

Vaughan Harris     -        Boss Moanaroa greeted at home after his home run

So after a very succesful last few weeks that has seen us win 8 of our last 9 games and move up the standings from 6th to 3rd we get to take a little break over Christmas before we head down to Melbourne for New Years. If we sweep Melbourne down there, it would give us 12 wins in a row and break Perth's record that they set at the start of the season. You never know, it could happen.