Essendon, Sandringham, Upwey Ferntree Gully, Melbourne, Waverley, and Geelong recorded wins on the weekend with just two games left in the VSBL Division 1 regular season before finals.
Read full season fixtures, results, and ladders HERE and check out the latest recaps from round 19 below.
Division 1 Firsts
Malvern Braves 3 v Essendon Bombers 13
Essendon scored seven runs in the seventh on the way to a 13-3 victory over Malvern on Saturday. Michael Formisano, McLeod Sell, Jack Giles, Jared Cruz, Jarryd Rogers, and Declan Speirs all had RBIs in the big inning.
Gareth Formisano got the win on the mound, throwing seven innings with five hits, three runs, and three strikeouts. Luke Abels threw one inning in relief out of the bullpen.
Mark Richards took the loss for Malvern, scoring four and two-thirds innings, allowing three runs on five hits and striking out four.
Essendon tallied 14 hits on the day as Rogers went 4-for-5 and Joel Prpic went 3-for-4. McLeod Sell had two RBIs while Jack Giles and Michael Formisano knocked in one run each. Darby Sexton, Declan Speirs, and Scott McIntyre also had hits.
Ryan Dale led Malvern with two hits in three at bats while Ryan Othen and Nicholas Parton doubled and James Squire singled.
Essendon goes into round 20 at Sandringham with a 14-2-2 record while Malvern is 7-11-1 with the next game at home v Fitzroy.
Sunshine Eagles 1 v Sandringham Royals 11
It was a tight matchup for the first half of the game, with neither side scoring until the fifth when Sunshine got one on the board. Sandringham quickly responded with seven runs, followed by one in the seventh and three more in the eighth, all while keeping Sunshine off the board for the rest of the game.
Grant Irving threw eight strong innings for Sandringham with three hits, one walk, one unearned run, and three strikeouts. Teammates Sam Skinner, Lachlan Smith, Joshua Meyer, Declan Ferguson, and Matthew Blackmore knocked in runs while Will Tucker got on base three times with a pair of singles and a walk.
Sunshine's Griffin Weir threw 4.33 innings, giving up four hits, three walks, and seven runs (two unearned) with one strikeout. Jordan Young covered 2.66 innings with two hits, an unearned run, and a strikeout while Josh Byrne pitched too,
In a quiet day at the plate for Sunshine, Jeremy Young had an RBI single and Tyson Cox-Davies had a base hit, too.
13-5 Sunshine heads to Geelong while 8-11 Sandringham hosts Essendon next.
Berwick City Cougars 3 v Upwey Ferntree Gully Tigers 14
Jordan Elliott was in the zone on Saturday, tallying four hits and leading Upwey Ferntree Gully to a 14-3 win over Berwick. Elliott singled in the first, singled in the fourth, doubled in the fifth, and singled in the sixth.
Upwey Ferntree Gully got on the board in the first inning as Donovan Hendriks singled on a 0-1 count, scoring one run. The Tigers tallied seven more runs in the fifth inning with RBIs from Elliott, Andy Kane, Staci Rogers, and Peter Schroeders.
Jarrod Turner got the win on the mound, allowing 11 hits and three runs over six innings, striking out four and walking zero. Sean Meldrum threw one inning in relief out of the bullpen.
Craig Barnett took the loss for Berwick after giving up seven runs on 11 hits over four innings, striking out two and walking one.
Upwey Ferntree Gully collected 15 hits total as Elliott went 4-for-4 and Schroeders, Hendriks, and Turner all had multiple hits too. Hendriks had the most chances in the field with seven on an error-free day for the Tigers.
Berwick totaled 11 hits in the game with three for Matthew Homfray and two apiece for Aidan Willis and John King.
The Tigers are 10-7-2 going into round 20 at home v Waverley while the Cougars take a 10-8-1 record into an away game at Blackburn.
Melbourne Demons 7 v Blackburn Orioles 1
Blackburn fell behind early and couldn't come back in a 7-1 loss to Melbourne on Saturday, with the Demons taking the lead on a sacrifice fly from Daniel Schroot in the second inning.
Daniel McGrath led things off on the pitcher's mound for Melbourne, covering seven innings with three hits, a walk, a run, and eight strikeouts.
Blackburn's Sam Bucello gave up seven runs on 12 hits over seven innings, striking out three. James Paterson threw two innings out of the bullpen.
Charlie Collins went 2-for-3 at the plate to lead Blackburn in hits while Melbourne tallied 14 hits on the day. Oliver McMahon went 4-for-6 while Kynan Jones, and Harvey Mitchelhill had multiple hits, too. Jones had a team-high 10 fielding chances in an error-free game.
Melbourne has a 7-10-1 record and Blackburn is 7-12 with the next games at home v Cheltenham and Berwick, respectively.
Waverley Wildcats 6 v Cheltenham Rustlers 2
The first four innings were quiet before Waverley scored once in the fifth. The Wildcats went on to score five more in the eighth, all while keeping Cheltenham off the board apart from two runs in the final frame.
Waverley's Mitchell Wilhite homered and Jordan Ley and Ned Hargreaves each drove in two runs to support pitcher Luke Papanicolaou, who gave up eight hits and one walk with three strikeouts. Adam Bright struck out three in one inning as well.
Josh Tribe threw six innings for Cheltenham, giving up two hits, three walks, and a run with four strikeouts. Jack Enciondo gave up two hits and a walk with three strikeouts in an inning, while five earned runs came around during Josh Ashen's two innings of work.
Ashen, George Calil, and Jack Dunn had two base hits while Dylan Trevorah, Sam Michael, and Jack Daniels had one hit each.
Waverley has a 10-6-2 record going into an away game at Upwey Ferntree Gully as Cheltenham heads to Melbourne.
Geelong Baycats 6 v Fitzroy Lions 5
Geelong got started straight away with two runs in the first, one in the second, and two more in the third. Fitzroy added three at the bottom of the inning before another two came in the fifth to tie it up.
The Baycats pulled in front for good with one run in the seventh, holding on to lead as Rudy Jaramillo got the win. He threw seven innings with 12 hits, one walk, five earned runs, and three strikeouts, plus had an RBI single at the plate. Sam Gibbons threw two scoreless innings with four strikeouts.
Josh Davies, Tyler Luther-Wilson, Lewis Weldon, Brock Wells, and Keli’i Zablan knocked in runs while Ryan Darcy doubled and Harper Rickard and James Wood singled.
Fitzroy's Tyler Trevaskis gave up eight hits and six runs (two unearned) with three walks and four strikeouts in seven innings. Danny King threw two scoreless in relief with three hits and a strikeout.
Carl Wilson had three RBIs for Fitzroy while Thomas Wilson had one. Tom Dicker, Ethan Epifanio, Jordan Hill, Chris McBride, and Patrick Wyatt all got on base with timely hits.
Geelong has a 13-5-1 record before hosting Sunshine while Fitzroy plays at Malvern in round 20.