ABL Preseason vs Team Australia

Last weekend we played our first full preseason series against Team Australia. A team of seasoned veterans as well as up and coming Australian prospects travelled to Blacktown for the weekend. This was a great hit out for us as it created regular season intensity. We went down in the series 2-1, but easily could have finished the series with a positive 3-0 record.

Game 1
Costly errors early on in the game were too much to come back from as Australia took an early 4-0 lead. We were able to get within 1 run, but Australia added an insurance run late in the game and we were never able to mount a comeback. Australia ran out winners 5-3.

Game 2
Craig Anderson started and threw 5 1/3 great innings allowing only 2 runs and left with a 3-2 lead. I was brought into the game to throw to the right handed hitters and end the 6th inning. Simple task you may think, but the two batters I had to face were Luke Hughes and Justin Huber. Both have spent time in the Majors and both have been part of Team Australia for the last 7 years. The nerves kicked in and the adrenaline took over as I retired both hitters with swinging strikeouts. I was pretty pumped as it was great to throw in front of a crowd of over 2,000 people again. Tyler Herr threw 2 great innings of relief before handing the ball over to Matt Williams to try and nail down the win. Unfortunately Team Australia strung quality at bats together, which set the stage for 19 year old Darryl George to hit a game winning 2 run single to right field. Australia stealing a 4-3 win.

Game 3
We started off hot scoring 2 runs in the 1st inning thanks to a double down right field line off the bat of Blue Sox import James Robbins. Vaughan Harris kept the Australia bats quiet through 5 innings only allowing a handful of hits before Luke Wilkins took over in relief. Luke started off shaky allowing 2 runs to score in the 6th, but then bounced back in the 7th throwing a scoreless inning. Another import, JD Williams made his presence felt as he hit a double in the 7th, stole 3rd base, and then scampered home on an errant throw by the catcher. I came out to throw the 8th inning, something that I thought was very unexpected since I haven't pitched in many games lately, and I threw the night before. The task wouldn't be easy again as I had to face Mitch Dening, Luke Hughes and Justin Huber. Luckily I was able to finish the inning only allowing three ground ball outs. Matt Williams came out to throw the 9th and there was no case of deja vu. He nailed down the save securing our first win of the preseason.

We head to Canberra this weekend to start our regular season against the Cavalry. I have no doubt this series against Australia gives us a great advantage.

Pitching in game 2