Rob's Wrap Up - Finals: Week 2
Published Sat 16 Mar 2024
SATURDAY
STURT EDGE ADELAIDE IN GAME ONE
By Robert Laidlaw
IT WAS TIGHT BUT Sturt triumphed 5-3 against Adelaide in game one of the division one baseball preliminary final best-of-three series at Mitcham on Saturday.
The Angels got the jump with a pair of runs in the opening inning. Max Tracey singled, stole second base and scored on Stefan Welch’s double. Then two bunt hits, to Billy Damon, Henry Cann, saw Welch score.
In the bottom of the first, Harry Knuckey walked for Sturt and came home on Jordan McArdle’s double to make it 2-1.
Then in the bottom of the third the Saints took the lead on Dayton Mitchell’s two-run home run after an error.
Hits by Jonas Garcia, Knuckey and McArdle, and Jackson Brebner-Russ’ sac fly saw another two Sturt runs in the bottom of the third, and a 5-2 lead.
A Billy Damon home run at the top of the eighth dig gave Adelaide its final run of the game.
Ky Hampton pitched eight innings for the win, conceding 10 hits for 13 strikeouts.
Game two is at Mitcham on Sunday from noon, with game three, if needed, at 3pm.
ALTHOUGH OUT-HIT, HENLEY & GRANGE managed to hold on for a 6-3 victory over Woodville at West Lakes in Saturday’s game one of the best of three series at West Beach.
The Senators sent shock waves through the Rams’ home crowd when lead-off batter Wade Moore hit a home run to start proceedings.
But Henley worked to the lead in the second frame, with two runs, thanks to three walks and two hit by pitches.
Then in the bottom of the third, Liam Bull doubled and came home on Patrick Inglis’s sac fly to make it 3-1.
It looked like the Rams were going away, when they scored another pair of runs in the fourth dig, after Jet Clohessy doubled, two walks and Bull’s two-run single, for a 5-1 lead.
Woodville closed the gap at the top of the eighth, when Moore was hit by a pitch and Cesar Perez smashed a two-run dinger, but Henley managed the final run in the bottom of the eighth, when Jack Partington walked, stoles second base and scored on a wild throw.
Jordy Grose pitched 7.1 innings for the win, conceding seven hits for three strikeouts.
The Rams outfield was on fire, with Giovanni Garbella taking four catches in left, Partington took three in centre and Inglis added another four in right.
Game two is at West Lakes on Sunday from noon, with game three, if needed, at 3pm.
* * * * *
Division one baseball results:
GAME ONE, on Saturday:
Sturt d Adelaide 5-3 (hits: Sturt – McArdle 3, Mitchell 2 (hr), Altamura 2, Knuckey, Brebner-Russ, Farr, Garcia; Adelaide – Tracey 3, Damon 2 (hr), Forney, Welch, Cann, Ganley, Pace. WP: K. Hampton; LP: H. Batchelor).
Henley & Grange d Woodville 6-3 (hits: H&G – Bull 3, Garbella, Yonezawa, Clohessy; Woodville – Moore 2 (hr), Perez 2 (hr), Fienemann, J. Chapman, Kuhn. WP: J. Grose; LP: AJ Verastegui).
SUNDAY
BASEBALL (March 17, 2024)
STURT AND HENLEY THROUGH TO THE BIG DANCE
By Robert Laidlaw
Both Sturt and Henley & Grange won their division one baseball preliminary final series in straight sets, to advance to next weekend’s premiership-decider at West Lakes.
After winning close games on Saturday, the Saints and Rams had convincing victories on Sunday to both win in two, with the long ball playing a major part.
THE POWER COMBINATION OF Terrell Joyce and Jordan McArdle was too much for Adelaide, as Sturt won 9-3 at Mitcham to punch the Saints’ ticket into the big dance.
At the top of the opening inning it looked like the Angels were on a mission, as Max Tracey singled, Ty Forney hit a RBI double and Stefan Welch smashed a two-run home run, for Adelaide to lead 3-0 with none out.
But the Saints had more than just the answer in the bottom of the first. Harry Knuckey and Mitch Lightbody hit singles and McArdle walked to load the bases, with Joyce hitting a grand slam to put Sturt 4-3 up with none out!
A pair of hit batsmen and Simon Adkins RBI single added another run before the first frame had been completed.
Joyce smashed his second dinger of the game in the second dig, a solo shot, to make it 6-3, which held up until the bottom of the seventh, where Joyce hit his third homer of the game and McArdle his first, with McArdle smashing another four-bagger in the eighth.
It was an amazing batting performance by Joyce, who had three swings for the game and landed three home runs!
Jackson Brebner-Russ pitched seven innings for the win, conceding four hits for two strikeouts, while reliever Josh Tindall gave up one hit in two frames for two K2s.
ALTHOUGH WINNING 7-0 AGAINST Woodville at West Lakes, Henley & Grange had to work hard for the victory, as it scored one run at a time until a three-run seventh inning broke the game open.
Giovanni Garbella smashed a solo home run in the bottom of the opening frame to give the Rams a 1-0 lead.
Then in the second dig, Patrick Inglis singled, went to second base on Koki Yonezawa’s bunt and came home on an error to make it 2-0.
The slow build continued in the bottom of the fourth, when Yonezawa doubled and scored on Jet Clohessy’s single, while an error gifted Henley another run in the fifth to make it 5-0.
Finally, the Rams brought the big bats out in the seventh, with Wilson Lee smashing a solo dinger, and after Liam Bull was hit by a pitch, Inglis belted a two-run home run to cap the day’s scoring.
Lee pitched seven strong innings for the win, conceding five hits for nine strikeouts, while reliever Garbella gave up two hits in two frames for four K2s.
* * * * *
Division one baseball results:
GAME ONE, on Saturday:
Sturt d Adelaide 5-3 (hits: Sturt – McArdle 3, Mitchell 2 (hr), Altamura 2, Knuckey, Brebner-Russ, Farr, Garcia; Adelaide – Tracey 3, Damon 2 (hr), Forney, Welch, Cann, Ganley, Pace. WP: K. Hampton; LP: H. Batchelor).
Henley & Grange d Woodville 6-3 (hits: H&G – Bull 3, Garbella, Yonezawa, Clohessy; Woodville – Moore 2 (hr), Perez 2 (hr), Fienemann, J. Chapman, Kuhn. WP: J. Grose; LP: AJ Verastegui).
GAME TWO, on Sunday:
Sturt d Adelaide 9-3 (hits: Sturt – McArdle 3 (2 hr), Joyce 3 (3 hr), Lightbody 2, Knuckey, Altamura, Adkins; Adelaide – Forney 2, Tracey, Welch (hr), Smith. WP: J. Brebner-Russ; LP: B. Damon).
Henley & Grange d Woodville 7-0 (hits: H&G – Inglis 2 (hr), Partington, Garbella (hr), Lee (hr), Rowe, Yonezawa, Clohessy; Woodville – Janssen 2, Perez, Fienemann, T. Nicholson, J. Chapman, Taheny. WP: W. Lee; LP: D. Janssen).
