The 2019/20 VSBL Division 2 season had the first midweek of the season on Thursday night, as Moorabbin, Malvern, Port Melbourne and Williamstown continued to dominate. These series wrap up this weekend behind teams face fresh opponents in the coming weeks.
Division 2 Firsts
Malvern Braves 6 v Doncaster Dragons 4
Doncaster's woes continued with a midweek loss, although the Dragons finished only down by two. The Dragons just haven't been able to keep up with the Braves offense thus far, even though they put up a good fight.
Malvern's Mitchell Kennedy got the job done on the mound, earning himself a win with five hits and four earned runs allowed. Chris Burke collected 3 RBIs on a double while Tyler Dale also had an extra-base hit. Ryan Dale, Lachlan Fuda and Geoff Holland had singles for Malvern as the Braves earned their sixth straight win.
Doncaster visits Malvern on Sunday in hopes of win number one for the season.
Bonbeach St Chads 0 v Moorabbin Panthers 6
The Bluejays just couldn't get their bats moving against the ladder leaders, as the Panthers enjoyed their eighth straight victory. Moorabbin has scored 76 runs while giving up just 25 over the first eight rounds.
This offensive strength was demonstrated once more on Thursday night with contributions from Nick Bertucci, Adam Harris, Neil Johnston, Stewart Mathieson and Zach Kamerman.
Pitcher Nick Veale faced 14 batters without giving up a hit, with only two walks allowed and seven strikeouts. He also had a double, single and RBI in his at-bats.
Moorabbin scored two in the second, three in the third and one in the fourth on a solid night of baseball.
Bonbeach remains winless ahead of the round nine meeting at home.
Mulgrave Rebels 3 v St Kilda Saints 1
Mulgrave has put on some strong performances in recent weeks, including this close midweek victory over St Kilda. Mulgrave improves to 5-3 with this result while St Kilda is 1-7 with a six-game losing streak.
Liam Richardson got the win for Mulgrave, giving up just five hits and one run in five innings with 21 batters faced. Joel Stubbs also pitched a scoreless inning for Mulgrave. Offensively, Ricardo Anaya knocked in a run while Zeke Howie collected two singles. Caleb Poole had a base hit and Nick Thompson had an RBI single.
Antonio Torres took the loss for St Kilda, covering six innings and giving up three runs - two of these unearned - with just four hits allowed in 25 batters faced. Daiksuke Hebara had one of St Kilda's only hits on the night, along with Robby Lewis and Tom Snowden, who had two singles and an RBI.
Mulgrave hosts on Sunday as the Rebels go for the sweep.
Werribee Giants 1 v Port Melbourne Mariners 2
Both teams came into this matchup with five wins and two losses, but Port Melbourne narrowly emerged victorious in this tight midweek game.
The Mariners hung on for a 2-1 win as they stole the lead late. The score was tied at 1-1 with Port Melbourne batting in the bottom of the fifth when Jackson White singled on the first pitch of his at-bat to score the go-ahead run.
Strong pitching on both sides kept this game close. Port Melbourne's Tyson Cox-Davies got the win with two hits and one run allowed over seven innings. Werribee's Wesley DeJong surrendered two runs on seven hits in seven innings with five strikeouts.
Port Melbourne's first run game in the second with a fielder's choice from Daniel Imoto scoring a run. Werribee tied things up in the top of the fourth when Daine Gregory grounded out to score one run
Chris Doyle led the Mariners going 2-for-3 on the night, while Aaron Petri had a handful of good plays and the defense made no errors.
Werribee hosts on Sunday as the Giants try and win the series.
Williamstown Wolves 15 v Preston Pirates 2
The Wolves have dominated the Pirates so far, outscoring them 27 runs to two. Williamstown's strong midweek outing was highlighted by solid pitching contributions from Kevin Desmedt, who gave up just three hits in three innings, along with impressive outings from Jayde Thorne and Daniel Chircop.
Preston's five hits on the night couldn't compare to Williamstown's big offensive numbers. Chircop knocked in 2 RBIs on a double, while Justin Gourlay and Jayde Thorne both homered. Aaron Green added to his RBI total with two singles and a double, while Hiroshi Narasaki knocked in two runs with a single and a walk. Mitch Collins, Chris Jackson and Robert Higginson all had RBI base hits.
Williamstown hosts this weekend and looks to improve to 7-2.