The first round of midweeks for VSBL Division 1 firsts featured some surprise results and huge victories. Sunshine still leads the way with a 6-0 record, while Essendon and Berwick City make up the top three. There's still 21 games left as the summer season heats up and these 10 teams chase Grand Final glory.
Blackburn Orioles 3 v Berwick City Cougars 4
Berwick won the first meeting 5-2 over the weekend, and the Cougars managed to take the second game too in a tight battle.
Blackburn was leading 3-0 after the third, but Berwick had other things in mind, scoring one in the fourth and three in the last inning to steal the victory.
After a hot 3-0 start Blackburn has dropped the last three games, while Berwick has enjoyed back-to-back wins. The Cougars had four hits on the night to Aiden Willis, Cain Bumpstead, Bradley Kmet and Alex Clark. Craig Barnett pitched five quality innings, giving up five hits and three runs - two of them earned - while striking out seven.
Blackburn's Ben Leslie had a double for one of his team's five hits, while Jacob Evans had 2 RBI's and Liam Hopkins, Charlie Collins and Jimmy Bent all collected hits. Blake Hodgson pitched 4.2 innings, giving up just four hits. Although four runs scored only one was earnt, and Hodgson also struck out two batters.
Blackburn and Berwick City meet once more this weekend as the Cougars go for the sweep.
Sandringham Royals 3 v Geelong Baycats 2
The first game went in favour Geelong by one run, and this time around Sandringham made up for that painful 11-10 loss on the weekend. With the series now even at 1-1, it's anyone's game come round seven on Saturday.
Scoreless through the first two innings, Sandringham took a 1-0 lead in the third. The next scoring came in the fifth when the Baycats scored their only two runs of the game. A run in the seventh and another in the eighth gave the Royals the perfect recipe for their second win of the season.
Both starters were hard-to-fault on the mound, with Sam Gibbons taking the ball for Geelong over eight innings. He gave up seven hits and allowed three runs, one of them unearned, to score. Sandringham's Cody Anderson made a big difference to his team, allowing seven hits and just two earned runs. He also smashed a triple when he was up to bat.
Jarryd Wood hit a double and a single for Geelong while James Wood doubled and Rudy Jaramillo singled.
The Royals offense came from Declan Croker, who had two singles and an RBI, as well as Branden Stenhouse with his double and single. Base hits for Paul Rutgers and Jack Wills also helped.
Geelong is now 3-3 in the middle of the ladder while Sandringham is 2-4.
Sandringham made a tight win against Geelong and recorded their 2nd win this season. Like 5th round, it was also close 1-run game but other than round 5 which both teams made 10+ runs, pitchers were outstanding for this round. With outstanding 8+ inning pitches of both starting pitchers, both teams could only score 2 runs until 7th inning. However, Paul Rutgers from Sandringham made difference at the top of 8th inning by hitting single and revenged their loss on last round.
Newport Rams 0 v Sunshine Eagles 3
The Rams have struggled slightly in their return to Division 1, coming up empty except for a 8-3 win over Waverley back in round three. Now, playing against such a strong Sunshine side has proved to be another tough challenge. Even so, the Rams kept the formidable Eagles offense at bay for a good part of the game, something they can be proud of and look to do once again on the weekend.
Sunshine scored two runs in the first and one in the last, and otherwise it was a quick and quiet game. Bryce Aldridge became Sunshine's first senior player to hit a home run this season, much to the excitement of his fellow Eagles. Jordan Young, Adam Irons, Rory Meddick, Russell Letts and Nikau Pouaka-Grego also had hits to help Sunshine. Jordan Young made some great plays at shortstop to keep the Rams off the bases.
Newport is 1-5 going into round six, with another big task ahead in the series final.
Melbourne Demons 0 v Upwey Ferntree Gully Tigers 10
After a washout with the rainy weather on the weekend, the Demons and the Tigers were ready to get back out onto the field for a big midweek matchup. The Tigers ran away with this one, keeping the Demons offense to a minimum.
Donovan Hendricks threw five fantastic innings, giving up just two hits as his defense backed him up with great plays in the outfield by Michael Oxworth and Riley Light. Jordan Elliot and Justin Swanton handled things well in the infield, keeping the Demons off the base paths while Staci Rogers fulfilled his catching duties with ease.
The Tigers had a huge third inning, adding six runs to turn a three-run lead into a 9-0 shutout. One more run in their final at-bats helped the Tigers achieve their best outcome so far this season. All nine players in the starting lineup got on base and scored, with Travis Murphy leading the charge as he collected four RBIs on two hits. Elliot, Josh Hendricks and Peter Schroders all added to the offensive output.
Although this was a tough loss for Melbourne, the club was excited to see Cooper Gerwing make his debut in the firsts, playing comfortably in centre field while Sadi Nergiz did a terrific job catching his first full game in the top nine.
Both teams are 3-3 although the Tigers have won their last three and the Demons now have a three-game losing streak.
Cheltenham Rustlers 3 v Waverley Wildcats 1
Cheltenham had a slow start to the season, but now the team has won back-to-back games over a quiet Waverley side.
The Rustlers lineup didn't produce as much offense as they did in Sunday's 7-4 victory, but Cheltenham still got the job done in solid fashion. Seven hits proved enough for the Rustlers, with Andrew Gribben and Conor Myles leading the way with two hits apiece. Dante Caruso, Jack Daniels and Lars Ligouri all had hits in the win too.
One run in the fourth and two runs in the fifth put Cheltenham in a good spot as pitching was no problem either. Jack Enciondo’s outstanding seven innings of pitching work saw him give up just three hits and four walks with seven strikeouts.
Jacob Sheldon-Collins, Andrew Russell and Mohi Kahul collected hits for Waverley while Damon Hill picked up the RBI in the seventh inning.
Cheltenham is now 2-4 while Waverley is one spot ahead with a 3-3 record.
Essendon Bombers 3 v Fitzroy Lions 1
Essendon and Fitzroy faced off at Melbourne Ballpark in a tight contest that went in the Bomber's favour.
After a big win on the weekend, Essendon's confident and capable lineup produced a few runs, which proved to be enough for the Bombers. Fitzroy managed just a lone run as the team dropped to 1-5 on the season. Meanwhile Essendon is on the way up, currently sitting in second place with a 5-1 record just behind the undefeated Sunshine team.
Essendon hosts the round seven game this weekend.