Orioles over Dragons: Wildcats purring

BLACKBURN 6 defeated DONCASTER 1 (Wednesday)

The Orioles made it two wins in four days over Doncaster with an all-the-way win at Billabong Park this evening.

Blackburn's Greg Wiltshire scattered five runs - three of them to Chris Nicholas - over an impressive stint, with Scott Woolard mopping up at the end.

Jamie Lethborg (five runs on eight hits)  was solid enough for Doncaster, although Blackburn's eleven hits enabled them to score regularly. Ryan Booth was a stand-out with three knocks, while Hopcraft and Whiteford collected a couple each for the birds.

"They just know how to win," said Doncaster manager Stephen Black. "Booth's double in the first hurt us with two out. We were in the game until they scored another three in the fourth."

"We loaded the bases in the last with none out," Black said, "but to their credit they were able to shut us down."

WAVERLEY 9 defeated SUNSHINE 1 (Wednesday)

The Wildcats cruised to their twenty-first win of the season - from twenty-four - with a comfortable result over the Eagles, whose depth has been tested by midweek games in the playing absence of skipper Jason Benson.

Six Wildcats runs in the first was always going to pose a challenge for the Eagles, who struggled in offence - for just five hits - while conceding a handful of costly errors. 

UPWEY 8 defeated CHELTENHAM 5 (Thursday)

Upwey returned to the winners list after a run of outs, while the Rustlers took a loss that was a further setback to their fading chances of play-off action.

BONBEACH 4 defeated MALVERN 2 (Thursday)

The Blue Jays posted an absolutely critical win in the context of their season by sneaking past Malvern in a mid-week clash.

The result gives Bonbeach a two-game break on both Malvern and Sunshine at the bottom of the table, with plenty of baseball still to be played.