Round 8 Recaps
Port Melbourne Mariners vs. Malvern Braves 1sts
2 4
After a great 6-2 win on Sunday, the Braves carried on with their winning ways as they narrowly topped the Mariners in the first midweek game of the season. Now, they’ll have a chance for the sweep as they look ahead to their round 9 game. Chance Taylor Hicks looked good on the mound, while Gavin Woolger led the way with his bat and base running. Hicks threw six innings, giving up four hits and two runs with eight strikeouts. Port Melbourne will try to avoid a disappointing sweep when Sunday comes around.
Springvale Lions vs. Werribee Giants 1sts
0 5
Wesley DeJong didn't allow a single run against the Lions, throwing a complete game shutout and leading the Giants to a 5-0 victory on Thursday night. Werribee opened up the scoring in the 1st inning when Wade Balzer drew a walk, scoring one run.
One bright spot for the Lions was a single by Lachlan Madden in the 2nd inning, as well as standout American import Anna Kimbell who went 2-for-3. Otherwise the majority of the offense belonged to Werribee, led by Jon Lowe who went 2-for-4. The Giants also stole seven bases during the game, with the Balzer brothers earning two apiece.
DeJong earned the victory on the hill for the Giants. He surrendered zero runs on four hits over seven innings, striking out nine. Rydge Hogan took the loss for the Lions. He allowed five hits, 5 walks and four runs over five innings, striking out four. Game 3 on Sunday will be at Werribee.
Mulgrave Rebels vs. Cheltenham Rustlers 1sts
1 2
The Rustlers kept their unbeaten streak alive with their eighth straight win, narrowly beating the Rebels for a 2-0 series lead. Mulgrave was in the game the whole time, but unfortunately, they couldn’t quite piece together that extra offense to avoid their seventh loss of the season. Andrew Campbell was once again solid on the mound for Cheltenham, throwing five innings in which he gave up four hits and one run while striking out three. The Rebels will look ahead to Sunday as they try to prevent a four-game losing streak.
Williamstown Wolves vs. Doncaster Dragons 1sts
1 2
In what seems to be the story of the season, the Wolves once more just couldn’t quite manufacture enough offense to steal the lead from the Dragons and get their second win, which they’ve been searching for since round 3. Williamstown shows lots of positives and certainly stayed in the game, but in the end Doncaster took home the win. After a string of recent wins the Dragons have improved to 4-4 and found their way to third spot on the ladder.
Bonbeach Bluejays vs. Newport Rams 1sts
1 3
In a much calmer and more controlled game than Sunday’s rout of the Bluejays, the Rams pulled off their eighth consecutive win after an exciting pitcher’s duel. Both teams showed pitching strength, with Newport’s winning pitcher Riley Barr allowing just three hits and one run while striking out seven and walking zero.
David Land scored two runs for the Rams on a single in the 1st, but otherwise the Rams offense was quieted down a bit, with six hits on the night, including two apiece to Land and Justin Gil. Matt Prior took the loss for Bonbeach after surrendering three runs on six hits across seven innings, along with five strikeouts.
Newport’s defense was on point, with Nathan Smith covering a lot of ground in right field to make a stunning catch. It was a tough loss for Bonbeach as they were close but not quite close enough to their first victory of the season, and they’ll be looking to avoid a sweep on Sunday.
Round 7 Recaps
Cheltenham Rustlers vs. Mulgrave Rebels 1sts
6 2
The Rustlers were solid once again as they secured their seventh straight victory. Mulgrave was rejected once more in their search for a second win, but their starter Thomas Ondra was reliable for most of his innings and settled down after some early trouble. He ended up throwing eight innings, giving up four earned runs and two unearned runs while striking out six. Cheltenham plated five of their runs in the 2nd and 3rd, with the Rebels getting their only runs in the 4th with a 2-RBI single from Chris Anderton.
A bit of back and forth between the two teams in the back half of the game wasn’t enough for Mulgrave to answer in the closing innings, and Cheltenham was rewarded for their efforts with win number seven, extending their sweet start to the season for yet another week. Some of the biggest contributors on the Cheltenham side includes a pair of singles for Jackson Hunkin, a double and single from both Andrew Gibbens and Sam Michael, and an RBI single from Conor Myles. These two teams will meet again at Mulgrave on Thursday night.
Cheltenham Rustlers vs. Mulgrave Rebels 2nds
4 0
A quiet day at the plate doomed the Rebels, who just couldn’t seem to put together any solid scoring opportunities against the seasoned Rustlers pitching staff. This marks Cheltenham’s sixth win on the season, and their fourth shutout victory in the first seven games alone. With solid pitching and determined team hitters, the Rustlers are shaping up to be one of the final four if they can hold steady. Mulgrave is currently sitting in second-to-last place on the ladder with one win, five losses and one draw thus far, but if they can pick up their offense and rebound when Cheltenham come to visit this weekend, anything is possible.
Cheltenham Rustlers vs. Mulgrave Rebels 3rds
10 1
In game one of the series, the Rustlers exerted the same dominance we’ve seen all season long, allowing them to improve to a 6-1 record to stay in their comfortable spot at the top of the ladder alongside Springvale. Cheltenham was on-point offensively and in the field, with a pitching staff that easily retired Mulgrave batters without any big dramas. The Rebels are now 4-3 after losing two of their last three, and they will be eager to get back in the win column when they host the Rustlers on Sunday.
Cheltenham Rustlers vs. Mulgrave Rebels 4ths
13 2
The Rustlers cruised to an easy and convincing win over the Rebels to achieve big back-to-back wins. After starting the season on a high note with a 3-0 winning streak, the Rebels have dropped four games in a row, a disappointing trend they’d love to turn around this weekend. With only two runs scored in each of their past two games, Mulgrave will need to manufacture more offensively to stand a chance against this Cheltenham side that has scored more than 10 runs in five of their seven games.
Bonbeach Bluejays vs. Newport Rams 1sts
4 23
The Bluejays just can't seem to catch a break as they were handed their seventh straight loss by a hard-hitting Rams team. Starter Tim Bellerby had a tough day on the mound, and defensive miscues didn’t help as took the loss after giving up 14 hits and 15 runs across three innings.
Newport’s Cam Lyons was fantastic at the plate, driving in five runs on three hits, including singles in the 2nd and 4th and a blazing triple in the 5th. Outstanding junior player Nikau Pouaka-Grego wasn’t far behind, going 4-for-5 and nearly hitting for the cycle, only missing out on a home run after collecting a triple, double and single. At just 14 years old, he’s definitely leaving his mark on the Div 2 competition.
The Bluejays’ weren’t completely silenced, as they jumped on some scoring chances in the second to tally four runs. Unfortunately, that’s all they could produce as the rest of the offense belonged to the Rams. Dean Malthouse singled on the first pitch he took in the opening frame, and he ended up being the first of three to score in the top of the 1st. Newport quickly added six runs in the 2nd and 3rd with huge RBI hits from Malthouse, Justin Gil, Jared Berman, Nathan Smith and James Walshe.
David Asp once again proved to be reliable and consistent on the mound, earning the win for the Rams after throwing five scoreless innings during which he allowed just three hits while striking out three. He was supported by the unstoppable Newport offense, which racked up 22 hits on the day, including four from Malthouse alone. Riley Barr joined Gil, Lyons and Walshe with multiple hits on the day.
The Rams will look to keep up the pace in the rest of the series, while the Bluejays will be keen to turn things around and get that highly-desired first win of the season to get them off that dreaded spot at the bottom of the ladder. Thursday night’s midweek game will be played at Melbourne Ballpark in Altona while the return game will take place at Newport on Sunday.
Bonbeach Bluejays vs. Newport Rams 2nds
0 24
The result was even worse for Bonbeach in the 2nds as they were pummeled by a Newport offense that never stopped. It’s been a tough season so far for the winless Bluejays, who haven’t had much to offer offensively against some pretty strong pitching, having been outscored 102 – 3. That being said, Bonbeach has opened the season by facing the top three teams in the division in Cheltenham, Werribee and Newport, so they should be looking forward to their next series against familiar opponents at Mulgrave. Six wins and one draw put Newport tied with Werribee in the top spot, so the next series when they face off against one another should be very interesting. Bonbeach travels to Newport this weekend to see if they can turn things around at all and pull off a sweet surprise win.
Bonbeach Bluejays vs. Newport Rams 3rds
5 29
Newport’s stinging sweep of Bonbeach continued with a crazy busy day of offense for the Rams in the 3rds. They sailed through the game, racking up run after run on big hits and defensive miscues that further dented the Bluejays’ game-day confidence. For a team that was riding high on back-to-back wins after a slow start to the season, this wasn’t the final result they wanted, but Bonbeach still shows plenty of potential and they just need to regroup and come back stronger this weekend at Newport.
Bonbeach Bluejays vs. Newport Rams 4ths
9 11
This was a highly competitive matchup in which both sides never game up, and stayed in it the whole way through. Bonbeach was enjoying an 8-3 lead when Newport junior Bradley Blakemore came into pitch in his second game of the day, and he absolutely amazed the crowd by striking out nine of the next 16 batters to give up only two runs across three innings. His team rallied behind his reliable pitching and managed to turn a five-run deficit into a two-run lead as the game finished. This was a fantastic team effort the 5-2 Rams can be very proud of, and carry into Sunday’s home game.
Springvale Lions vs. Werribee Giants 1sts
4 13
For the first time this season the Giants were kept to a slow start as all nine batters were retired easily in the first three innings. As they always do, Werribee got their offense firing before long, scoring three in the 4th, one in the 5th, one in the 6th and two in the 7th to secure a lead 10-1 going into the final two innings.
Werribee weathered a scare in the 8th inning by giving up three runs, but they bounced back to score another three of their own in the 9th to get their eighth straight victory. Josh Lee got the win for the Giants after giving up just four hits and one run across six innings. Guillermo Salazar threw three innings in relief out of the bullpen.
Lucas Anderson took the loss for the Lions. He went five innings, allowing four runs on four hits and striking out five. On the day, Werribee collected 12 hits, thanks to Balzer, Salazar, Jon Lowe and Trent Pantalleresco leading the way with multiple hits. Balzer went 3-for-5 with two singles and a double, while Salazar had a two-run home run in the 6th to add to Werribee’s excitement. Oliver Box and Ryan Balzer had keen eyes at the plate, recording 3 walks a piece.
Despite the final score, the Lions offense was more productive than in previous weeks with the lineup putting together 10 hits, thanks in large part to multiple hits from Anderson, Rydge Hogan, Liam Madden, Adam Thatcher, and Lucas Price. Now 1-6, Springvale will have another shot at their highly-anticipated second win of the year when they play Werribee again on Thursday at Melbourne Ballpark.
Springvale Lions vs. Werribee Giants 2nds
3 12
Despite a neck-and-neck 1-1 tie going into the 4th inning, the Lions started giving up more hits and runs to the determined Giants, and by the time the top of the 6th rolled around, Werribee was up 7-2. The Giants would manage five more runs, while the Lions got only one more. This marks Werribee’s sixth win of the season, and their fourth straight since a draw back in round 3 at Mulgrave. Springvale now has three wins, three losses and one draw on the season, and they will be eager to get one back after Sunday’s tough loss.
Springvale Lions vs. Werribee Giants 3rds
15 4
The Giants racked up 15 runs for the fourth time this season. The reigning premiers are fans of huge leads and scoring innings that seem to never end, as they’ve now won games with final scores of 16-6, 23-2, 16-2 and 15-4. Springvale now has six wins and one draw, giving them a lot of momentum heading into this weekend’s game two at Werribee. The Giants will be keen to turn their 2-5 record into 3-5.
Malvern Braves vs. Werribee Giants 4ths
12 15
Both sides were relentless at the plate, with the Giants eventually coming out on top despite the Braves’ best efforts. It was a beautiful day for baseball at Wadsworth Park as a record turnout for Malvern’s 4ths, including a lineup of 11 players and Vice President Rick Romanin, led a touching Armistice Day silence. The Rebels were batting well in the first two innings, with four runs in the 1st and seven runs in the 2nd while holding the Giants at bay. This didn’t last long, however, as Werribee soon added three runs before putting up a damaging 12-run frame in the 4th, leading to their second win of the year. The return game at Werribee should be another intense competition between these two teams.
Port Melbourne Mariners vs. Malvern Braves 1sts
2 6
The Braves were looking to bounce back after being dominated by the Rams in round 6, especially against the Mariners considering they lost a few tight contests last season. Malvern went hard in the 1st with back-to-back singles for Nic Unland and Billy Findlay before Chance Hicks drove in a run with a hit of his own. Mitch Wilhite followed up, giving the Braves a two-run advantage.
Simon Fitzmaurice was on the bump for the Braves and the boys threw the ball around in the 1st, giving the Mariners the chance to get two of their own. Despite the wobbly 1st inning, Malvern’s defense was solid for the rest of the game. From then on out, Malvern stepped it up a notch, roughing up the Mariners’ import and getting more runs on the board. Fitzmaurice continued his strong pitching performance, throwing seven innings with no earned runs. Port Melbourne’s relievers were solid, but Malvern still managed to tack on some more runs thanks to RBI’s from Lachlan Fuda and Geoff Holland. Chance Hicks closed the door with a two-inning save.
Thursday’s midweek game at Port Melbourne will see Malvern hoping to take a 2-0 series lead, while the Mariners try to avoid a two-game skid.
Port Melbourne Mariners vs. Malvern Braves 2nds
7 15
A late lead allowed the Braves to defeat the Mariners for their third win. The game was tied at seven with Malvern batting in the top of the 5th when Jonte DeZwart doubled on a 2-0 count, scoring two runs and giving the Braves some added momentum to push ahead and keep scoring. Malvern went on to score five runs in the 6th inning, thanks to singles from Hubert Lau and Taylor Field, a groundout by Matt May and a fielder's choice by Jack Hangar.
Eddie Gibbs earned the win for Malvern after throwing six innings, giving up seven runs on six hits with eight strikeouts. Field went 2-for-4 at the plate to lead the team in hits, and three Braves players stole at least two bases on the day. Chris Godfrey managed to steal four bases on the day.
Malvern will look to continue building on this strength as they look ahead to round 8 while Port Melbourne hopes to bounce back and get their first win of the season.
Malvern Braves vs. Port Melbourne Mariners 3rds
9 4
The Braves were solid on Sunday, earning their third victory on the season thanks in large part to a great start from Carlo Spadazzi. The Mariners lost their sixth straight game after starting the season off with a win in round 1. Port Melbourne will be eager to switch things up this Sunday, while Malvern will go for back-to-back victories.
Williamstown Wolves vs. Doncaster Dragons 1sts
7 9
The Wolves were so close to their second win, but they let their chance for a breakthrough slip away as they fell to Doncaster in their sixth loss of the season. Williamstown’s import pitcher Dennis Neal was in fine form on the mound, holding the Dragons at bay. It wasn’t until a 7th- inning pitching frame that Doncaster truly seized the opportunity to transform a six-run deficit into a two-run advantage.
Letting the game get away from them was disappointing from Williamstown, who haven’t had the same early-season success they saw at this time last year. Once Doncaster started hitting hard, there was no stopping the Dragons on their way to their third victory after a slow start to the season that saw them drop to 0-3.
Nick Gray and Justin Gourlay had hits for Williamstown, while Doncaster’s Brendan McDonald sent a three-run homer over the fence in the 8th as the leadoff batter. The Wolves will have two more chances to redeem themselves against Doncaster on Thursday night and Sunday.
Williamstown Wolves vs. Doncaster Dragons 2nds
12 3
The Wolves cruised to their fifth win of the season over the Dragons, who dropped their second straight game. Williamstown’s offense was much stronger this time around than last week, when they managed just one run against Cheltenham. Doncaster will look to bounce back as they host Williamstown at home on Sunday.
Doncaster Dragons vs. Williamstown Wolves 3rds
6 10
Both teams relied on their offense to get the job done, with the Wolves coming out on top in a successful effort to get their third win of the year. Doncaster has dropped to 2-5 and will aim to avoid a three-game losing streak when Sunday rolls around.
Doncaster Dragons vs. Williamstown Wolves 4ths
1 11
The Wolves are proving to be the toughest competition in the 4ths as they won their sixth game of the season over a quiet Dragons side. Doncaster has slipped to 4-3 and will try to stay above .500 as round 8 draws near.
Round 7 Recaps
Cheltenham Rustlers vs. Mulgrave Rebels 1sts
6 2
The Rustlers were solid once again as they secured their seventh straight victory. Mulgrave was rejected once more in their search for a second win, but their starter Thomas Ondra was reliable for most of his innings and settled down after some early trouble. He ended up throwing eight innings, giving up four earned runs and two unearned runs while striking out six. Cheltenham plated five of their runs in the 2nd and 3rd, with the Rebels getting their only runs in the 4th with a 2-RBI single from Chris Anderton.
A bit of back and forth between the two teams in the back half of the game wasn’t enough for Mulgrave to answer in the closing innings, and Cheltenham was rewarded for their efforts with win number seven, extending their sweet start to the season for yet another week. Some of the biggest contributors on the Cheltenham side includes a pair of singles for Jackson Hunkin, a double and single from both Andrew Gibbens and Sam Michael, and an RBI single from Conor Myles. These two teams will meet again at Mulgrave on Thursday night.
Cheltenham Rustlers vs. Mulgrave Rebels 2nds
4 0
A quiet day at the plate doomed the Rebels, who just couldn’t seem to put together any solid scoring opportunities against the seasoned Rustlers pitching staff. This marks Cheltenham’s sixth win on the season, and their fourth shutout victory in the first seven games alone. With solid pitching and determined team hitters, the Rustlers are shaping up to be one of the final four if they can hold steady. Mulgrave is currently sitting in second-to-last place on the ladder with one win, five losses and one draw thus far, but if they can pick up their offense and rebound when Cheltenham come to visit this weekend, anything is possible.
Cheltenham Rustlers vs. Mulgrave Rebels 3rds
10 1
In game one of the series, the Rustlers exerted the same dominance we’ve seen all season long, allowing them to improve to a 6-1 record to stay in their comfortable spot at the top of the ladder alongside Springvale. Cheltenham was on-point offensively and in the field, with a pitching staff that easily retired Mulgrave batters without any big dramas. The Rebels are now 4-3 after losing two of their last three, and they will be eager to get back in the win column when they host the Rustlers on Sunday.
Cheltenham Rustlers vs. Mulgrave Rebels 4ths
13 2
The Rustlers cruised to an easy and convincing win over the Rebels to achieve big back-to-back wins. After starting the season on a high note with a 3-0 winning streak, the Rebels have dropped four games in a row, a disappointing trend they’d love to turn around this weekend. With only two runs scored in each of their past two games, Mulgrave will need to manufacture more offensively to stand a chance against this Cheltenham side that has scored more than 10 runs in five of their seven games.
Bonbeach Bluejays vs. Newport Rams 1sts
4 23
The Bluejays just can't seem to catch a break as they were handed their seventh straight loss by a hard-hitting Rams team. Starter Tim Bellerby had a tough day on the mound, and defensive miscues didn’t help as took the loss after giving up 14 hits and 15 runs across three innings.
Newport’s Cam Lyons was fantastic at the plate, driving in five runs on three hits, including singles in the 2nd and 4th and a blazing triple in the 5th. Outstanding junior player Nikau Pouaka-Grego wasn’t far behind, going 4-for-5 and nearly hitting for the cycle, only missing out on a home run after collecting a triple, double and single. At just 14 years old, he’s definitely leaving his mark on the Div 2 competition.
The Bluejays’ weren’t completely silenced, as they jumped on some scoring chances in the second to tally four runs. Unfortunately, that’s all they could produce as the rest of the offense belonged to the Rams. Dean Malthouse singled on the first pitch he took in the opening frame, and he ended up being the first of three to score in the top of the 1st. Newport quickly added six runs in the 2nd and 3rd with huge RBI hits from Malthouse, Justin Gil, Jared Berman, Nathan Smith and James Walshe.
David Asp once again proved to be reliable and consistent on the mound, earning the win for the Rams after throwing five scoreless innings during which he allowed just three hits while striking out three. He was supported by the unstoppable Newport offense, which racked up 22 hits on the day, including four from Malthouse alone. Riley Barr joined Gil, Lyons and Walshe with multiple hits on the day.
The Rams will look to keep up the pace in the rest of the series, while the Bluejays will be keen to turn things around and get that highly-desired first win of the season to get them off that dreaded spot at the bottom of the ladder. Thursday night’s midweek game will be played at Melbourne Ballpark in Altona while the return game will take place at Newport on Sunday.
Bonbeach Bluejays vs. Newport Rams 2nds
0 24
The result was even worse for Bonbeach in the 2nds as they were pummeled by a Newport offense that never stopped. It’s been a tough season so far for the winless Bluejays, who haven’t had much to offer offensively against some pretty strong pitching, having been outscored 102 – 3. That being said, Bonbeach has opened the season by facing the top three teams in the division in Cheltenham, Werribee and Newport, so they should be looking forward to their next series against familiar opponents at Mulgrave. Six wins and one draw put Newport tied with Werribee in the top spot, so the next series when they face off against one another should be very interesting. Bonbeach travels to Newport this weekend to see if they can turn things around at all and pull off a sweet surprise win.
Bonbeach Bluejays vs. Newport Rams 3rds
5 29
Newport’s stinging sweep of Bonbeach continued with a crazy busy day of offense for the Rams in the 3rds. They sailed through the game, racking up run after run on big hits and defensive miscues that further dented the Bluejays’ game-day confidence. For a team that was riding high on back-to-back wins after a slow start to the season, this wasn’t the final result they wanted, but Bonbeach still shows plenty of potential and they just need to regroup and come back stronger this weekend at Newport.
Bonbeach Bluejays vs. Newport Rams 4ths
9 11
This was a highly competitive matchup in which both sides never game up, and stayed in it the whole way through. Bonbeach was enjoying an 8-3 lead when Newport junior Bradley Blakemore came into pitch in his second game of the day, and he absolutely amazed the crowd by striking out nine of the next 16 batters to give up only two runs across three innings. His team rallied behind his reliable pitching and managed to turn a five-run deficit into a two-run lead as the game finished. This was a fantastic team effort the 5-2 Rams can be very proud of, and carry into Sunday’s home game.
Springvale Lions vs. Werribee Giants 1sts
4 13
For the first time this season the Giants were kept to a slow start as all nine batters were retired easily in the first three innings. As they always do, Werribee got their offense firing before long, scoring three in the 4th, one in the 5th, one in the 6th and two in the 7th to secure a lead 10-1 going into the final two innings.
Werribee weathered a scare in the 8th inning by giving up three runs, but they bounced back to score another three of their own in the 9th to get their eighth straight victory. Josh Lee got the win for the Giants after giving up just four hits and one run across six innings. Guillermo Salazar threw three innings in relief out of the bullpen.
Lucas Anderson took the loss for the Lions. He went five innings, allowing four runs on four hits and striking out five. On the day, Werribee collected 12 hits, thanks to Balzer, Salazar, Jon Lowe and Trent Pantalleresco leading the way with multiple hits. Balzer went 3-for-5 with two singles and a double, while Salazar had a two-run home run in the 6th to add to Werribee’s excitement. Oliver Box and Ryan Balzer had keen eyes at the plate, recording 3 walks a piece.
Despite the final score, the Lions offense was more productive than in previous weeks with the lineup putting together 10 hits, thanks in large part to multiple hits from Anderson, Rydge Hogan, Liam Madden, Adam Thatcher, and Lucas Price. Now 1-6, Springvale will have another shot at their highly-anticipated second win of the year when they play Werribee again on Thursday at Melbourne Ballpark.
Springvale Lions vs. Werribee Giants 2nds
3 12
Despite a neck-and-neck 1-1 tie going into the 4th inning, the Lions started giving up more hits and runs to the determined Giants, and by the time the top of the 6th rolled around, Werribee was up 7-2. The Giants would manage five more runs, while the Lions got only one more. This marks Werribee’s sixth win of the season, and their fourth straight since a draw back in round 3 at Mulgrave. Springvale now has three wins, three losses and one draw on the season, and they will be eager to get one back after Sunday’s tough loss.
Springvale Lions vs. Werribee Giants 3rds
15 4
The Giants racked up 15 runs for the fourth time this season. The reigning premiers are fans of huge leads and scoring innings that seem to never end, as they’ve now won games with final scores of 16-6, 23-2, 16-2 and 15-4. Springvale now has six wins and one draw, giving them a lot of momentum heading into this weekend’s game two at Werribee. The Giants will be keen to turn their 2-5 record into 3-5.
Malvern Braves vs. Werribee Giants 4ths
12 15
Both sides were relentless at the plate, with the Giants eventually coming out on top despite the Braves’ best efforts. It was a beautiful day for baseball at Wadsworth Park as a record turnout for Malvern’s 4ths, including a lineup of 11 players and Vice President Rick Romanin, led a touching Armistice Day silence. The Rebels were batting well in the first two innings, with four runs in the 1st and seven runs in the 2nd while holding the Giants at bay. This didn’t last long, however, as Werribee soon added three runs before putting up a damaging 12-run frame in the 4th, leading to their second win of the year. The return game at Werribee should be another intense competition between these two teams.
Port Melbourne Mariners vs. Malvern Braves 1sts
2 6
The Braves were looking to bounce back after being dominated by the Rams in round 6, especially against the Mariners considering they lost a few tight contests last season. Malvern went hard in the 1st with back-to-back singles for Nic Unland and Billy Findlay before Chance Hicks drove in a run with a hit of his own. Mitch Wilhite followed up, giving the Braves a two-run advantage.
Simon Fitzmaurice was on the bump for the Braves and the boys threw the ball around in the 1st, giving the Mariners the chance to get two of their own. Despite the wobbly 1st inning, Malvern’s defense was solid for the rest of the game. From then on out, Malvern stepped it up a notch, roughing up the Mariners’ import and getting more runs on the board. Fitzmaurice continued his strong pitching performance, throwing seven innings with no earned runs. Port Melbourne’s relievers were solid, but Malvern still managed to tack on some more runs thanks to RBI’s from Lachlan Fuda and Geoff Holland. Chance Hicks closed the door with a two-inning save.
Thursday’s midweek game at Port Melbourne will see Malvern hoping to take a 2-0 series lead, while the Mariners try to avoid a two-game skid.
Port Melbourne Mariners vs. Malvern Braves 2nds
7 15
A late lead allowed the Braves to defeat the Mariners for their third win. The game was tied at seven with Malvern batting in the top of the 5th when Jonte DeZwart doubled on a 2-0 count, scoring two runs and giving the Braves some added momentum to push ahead and keep scoring. Malvern went on to score five runs in the 6th inning, thanks to singles from Hubert Lau and Taylor Field, a groundout by Matt May and a fielder's choice by Jack Hangar.
Eddie Gibbs earned the win for Malvern after throwing six innings, giving up seven runs on six hits with eight strikeouts. Field went 2-for-4 at the plate to lead the team in hits, and three Braves players stole at least two bases on the day. Chris Godfrey managed to steal four bases on the day.
Malvern will look to continue building on this strength as they look ahead to round 8 while Port Melbourne hopes to bounce back and get their first win of the season.
Malvern Braves vs. Port Melbourne Mariners 3rds
9 4
The Braves were solid on Sunday, earning their third victory on the season thanks in large part to a great start from Carlo Spadazzi. The Mariners lost their sixth straight game after starting the season off with a win in round 1. Port Melbourne will be eager to switch things up this Sunday, while Malvern will go for back-to-back victories.
Williamstown Wolves vs. Doncaster Dragons 1sts
7 9
The Wolves were so close to their second win, but they let their chance for a breakthrough slip away as they fell to Doncaster in their sixth loss of the season. Williamstown’s import pitcher Dennis Neal was in fine form on the mound, holding the Dragons at bay. It wasn’t until a 7th- inning pitching frame that Doncaster truly seized the opportunity to transform a six-run deficit into a two-run advantage.
Letting the game get away from them was disappointing from Williamstown, who haven’t had the same early-season success they saw at this time last year. Once Doncaster started hitting hard, there was no stopping the Dragons on their way to their third victory after a slow start to the season that saw them drop to 0-3.
Nick Gray and Justin Gourlay had hits for Williamstown, while Doncaster’s Brendan McDonald sent a three-run homer over the fence in the 8th as the leadoff batter. The Wolves will have two more chances to redeem themselves against Doncaster on Thursday night and Sunday.
Williamstown Wolves vs. Doncaster Dragons 2nds
12 3
The Wolves cruised to their fifth win of the season over the Dragons, who dropped their second straight game. Williamstown’s offense was much stronger this time around than last week, when they managed just one run against Cheltenham. Doncaster will look to bounce back as they host Williamstown at home on Sunday.
Doncaster Dragons vs. Williamstown Wolves 3rds
6 10
Both teams relied on their offense to get the job done, with the Wolves coming out on top in a successful effort to get their third win of the year. Doncaster has dropped to 2-5 and will aim to avoid a three-game losing streak when Sunday rolls around.
Doncaster Dragons vs. Williamstown Wolves 4ths
1 11
The Wolves are proving to be the toughest competition in the 4ths as they won their sixth game of the season over a quiet Dragons side. Doncaster has slipped to 4-3 and will try to stay above .500 as round 8 draws near.