Our two Victorian teams went head to head in the semi finals last night, with Southern Mariners prevailing to book a spot in the gold medal game at the 2019 Australian Junior League Championship gold medal game in Adelaide tomorrow.
The Metros and Mariners capped off a big day of action at West Beach on Thursday with semi-final wins to advance to the decider.
Adelaide Rays and Eastern Athletics will battle for bronze on the final day of competition.
Catch up on the day five action:
SF1: Northern Metros 2, Adelaide Rays 1 | Box Score
Early offence proved enough to lift Northern Metros over Adelaide Rays and into the gold medal game at #AJLC2019.
The Metros scored a run in the first and second before riding a Joshua Davies gem to a 2-1 victory on diamond one.
Davies struck out four hitters in 6 1/3 innings.
Brody Pickett scored on a Ty Spaulding groundball in the first to put Northern on top.
Picket’s groundball in the second doubled the Metros’ advantage.
The Rays threatened in the top of the seventh, cutting the lead to one with a bases loaded walk.
SF2: Southern Mariners 10, Eastern Athletics 0 | Box Score
Genevieve Beacom starred on the mound as Southern Mariners advanced to tomorrow’s gold medal game.
Beacom recorded 12 strikeouts in five innings as the Mariners completed a 10-0 mercy-rule win over Eastern Athletics on diamond two.
Southern’s offence delivered frequently to support Beacom, adding runs in all five innings.
Six Mariners drive in a run in an even offensive performance.
Beacom, Wesley Ka and Tyler Ellis each collected two hits.
Harrison Elustondo recorded the only base hit for the Athletics.
QF1: Adelaide Rays 3, Illawarra 2 | Box Score
Adelaide Rays overcame Illawarra 3-2 in a nailbiter on diamond two to book their spot in the #AJLC2019 final four.
The Rays opened the scoring in the third but were forced to dig deep after Illawarra drew level in the bottom of the sixth of their quarter-final at West Beach.
Adelaide added two runs in the top of the seventh and despite Illawarra adding another run were able to close the door.
Ethan Kelsey’s groundball scored the opening run of the game for the Rays.
But pitching was on top otherwise until the late stages.
Adelaide starter Jacob Matuszcak tossed three scoreless innings and Illawarra counterpart Hayden Freeme a complete game with five strikeouts.
Jordan Hodges and Lachlan Spratt drove in runs to put the Rays on top after Jamie Burgess drew Illawarra level.
QF2: Southern Mariners 5, Macarthur 2 | Box Score
Wesley Ka and strong pitching guided Southern Mariners to a semi-final at #AJLC2019.
The Mariners topped Macarthur 5-2 in a hard-fought quarter-final at West Beach.
Ka drove in four runs on three hits, providing all the offence Southern needed.
Lachlan Smith tossed three impressive innings with a pair of punchouts and Charlie Pierson struck out six in four one-run innings.
The Mariners struck first, scoring a pair of runs in the second, before the eighth-seed cut a run off the deficit in the third.
Runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth extended Southern’s advantage.
Macarthur starter Adam Bates worked five innings, striking out six.
Blake Gooding and Carson Lealuga-Puhotau brought home runners for Macarthur.
QF3: Eastern Athletics 13, Adelaide Seahawks 6 | Box Score
Eastern Athletics overturned an early four-run deficit to set up an all-Victorian semi-final against Southern Mariners.
The Athletics trailed 6-2 entering the fourth before reeling off 11 unanswered runs to down Adelaide Seahawks 13-6.
Sam Stone drove in three runs for the Athletics and James Squire and Harrison Elustondo both had two RBIs.
Eastern pulled within a run in the fourth and took the lead with a two-run fifth.
Samsom Garcia collected three runs batted in for the Seahawks.
QF 4: Northern Metros 10, Newcastle Eagles 9 | Box Score
Ty Spaulding’s RBI-triple in bottom of the seventh lifted Northern Metros to a walk-off win against Newcastle Eagles on diamond two.
The Metros’ 10-9 win earned them a semi-final against Adelaide Rays.
Newcastle took a 4-0 lead in the second but its advantage was erased by a four-run fourth for Northern.
The teams traded runs before the Eagles scored three in the top of the seventh to pull level.
Cooper McDonnell drove in three runs on three hits for the Metros.
Jasper Brown and Coopeer Watson each had a pair of RBIs for the Eagles.
Newcastle pitcher Lachlan Jones recorded seven strikeouts.
The Eagles will play Illawarra at 10.30am tomorrow for a spot in the fifth-place playoff.
Western Comets 10, Brisbane Metro 6 | Box Score
Western Comets recorded their first win of #AJLC2019, taking down Brisbane Metro 10-6 in a consolation game on diamond one.
Jayden Lee, Lachlan Cahill and Jaygee Griggs each recorded two RBIs in the Comets’ win.
A four-run second put Western on top and they remained in the lead throughout.
The Comets scored three in the top of the fifth to create a four-run buffer.
Lawson Bell and Thomas Feenstra drove in two runs each for Metro.
Gold Coast Cougars 5, Canberra 1 | Box Score
Josh Paolo’s strong start on the mound and timely offence lifted Gold Coast Cougars over Canberra in a consolation game.
Paolo struck out five in four innings and the Cougars scored two runs in the fourth and fifth to take a 5-1 victory.
Mitchell Anderson led Gold Coast’s offence with two runs batted in.
Day six action on Friday at West Beach gets underway with consolation games at 8.30am.
The bronze medal game starts at 3pm and gold medal game at 6.30pm.
Both medal games will be streamed live on the Baseball Australia Facebook page.
Click here for the updated #AJLC2019 schedule.
For all the latest #AJLC2019 information head to the event page.