The 2020 Australia Youth Championships opened on Friday with two thrilling wins for the reigning champs Victoria U18 Blue, while Victoria U18 White put up a valiant 13-run effort against NSW.
QUICK LINKS: U16 event hub | U18 event hub
Rain continued to fall at Melbourne Ballpark, Geelong Baseball Centre and Ballarat's Prince of Wales Park in the afternoon, eventually ending play on day one of #AYC2020. There's plenty in store for day two as Victorian teams look to improve their records and leave their mark on the competition.
DAY ONE RESULTS - VICTORIA U16 BLUE & WHITE
South Australia 18 v Victoria Blue 8
South Australia rode a 10-run fourth to a big U16 win over Victoria Blue in Ballarat.
Max Stagg drove in five runs and Archie Lovelock four as SA powered past Vic Blue.
SA v VICB: Box Score and play-by-play
South Australia scored five runs in the first and hit back with two runs in the second after Victoria Blue got on the board with a pair of second-inning runs.
Vic Blue made it 7-5 in the third before SA pulled away for good with a 10-run fourth.
Stagg’s grand slam headlined the monster inning.
South Australia racked up 14 hits in the big win, led by three from Stagg and Oscar Weber.
Charlie O’Connell and Nicholas Parton drove in two runs each for Victoria Blue.
Hunter Mitchell struck out two in a scoreless relief inning for SA.
Both teams will play a doubleheader tomorrow.
South Australia faces Victoria White (11am) and Queensland (4pm) at Melbourne Ballpark.
Vic Blue is up against New South Wales on diamond one at Geelong Baseball Centre.
Victoria White 1 v New South Wales 16
Jarrod Davidson, Zac Newbold and Tyler Spiteri homered to lift New South Wales to a big win over Victoria White in their U16 opener.
NSW scored 12 runs in the first inning and never looked back, adding to its lead throughout to score a mercy-rule win on diamond two at Geelong Baseball Centre.
VICW v NSW: Box Score and play-by-play
Spiteri homered first, giving New South Wales a 3-0 lead in the first.
It started a big inning as Newbold, Kyan Wallington, Lachlan Bojarski and Stephen Courtney all collected hits to drive in runs, enabling NSW to take a 12-0.
New South Wales added a run in the second and Newbold went deep with a solo shot in the third ahead of Mackenzie Dean’s RBI-single making it 15-0.
Davidson’s homer in the fifth capped off a big win.
Victoria White added a late consolation run on a sacrifice fly from Xander Gunn.
Courtney and Newbold finished with three hits for NSW.
New South Wales has Victoria Blue at 9am on diamond one at Geelong Baseball Centre tomorrow, followed by a clash with Country New South Wales from 2.30pm on diamond four.
Victoria White has South Australia and Queensland in a doubleheader at Melbourne Ballpark from 11am.
DAY ONE RESULTS - VICTORIA U18 BLUE & WHITE
Queensland 3 v Victoria Blue 5
Jarryd Wood drove in two vital runs in extras as Victoria Blue edged Queensland in an #AYC2020 thriller!
Victoria Blue started its U18 title defence with an extra-inning win over Queensland on day one.
Blue scored three runs in the extra inning, with international tiebreak rules in play, and restricted Queensland to one to claim a 5-3 win on diamond four at Geelong Baseball Centre.
QLD v VICB: Box Score and play-by-play
Henry Hayman singled to drive in the go-ahead run in the top of the eighth and Jarryd Wood’s triple scored another two runs.
Queensland responded with a Lachlan Wilson single but could not come back for a second time.
The Queenslanders tied the ballgame with a two-run sixth.
Ian Lee tripled with two outs to score a pair of runs and make it 2-2.
Victoria Blue had doubled its lead in the top of the inning.
Nathan Smith’s two-out double scored Dante Caruso (single) to make it 2-0.
Earlier, Charlie Collins drove in the first run of the game in the third.
Collins had three hits and Caruso two.
Victoria Blue is back in action against the ACT in the second game of a doubleheader.
Queensland faces South Australia (1-0) from 3.15pm on diamond two at Geelong.
Victoria White 13 v New South Wales 18
In a wild battle, New South Wales overcame an early four-run deficit to defeat Victoria White at Melbourne Ballpark on Friday afternoon.
Roan North drove in five runs and Nicholas Chappell three to lift NSW to an 18-13 win.
VICW v NSW: Box Score and play-by-play
New South Wales jumped out to a 3-0 lead but Vic White piled on seven runs in the bottom of the second to grab the upperhand.
But the next 15 runs went the way of NSW to break the game open.
They piled on 10 in the fifth before Victoria White hit back with the last six runs.
It was not enough though as NSW started with a win.
North and Dylan Martin finished with three hits each for New South Wales.
Jordan Baumann and Trenell Hutchins had three hits for Vic White.
Osmin Wong homered for the Victorian outfit.
New South Wales faces Country New South Wales tomorrow from 12.45pm on diamond two at Geelong Baseball Centre.
Victoria White has a clash with South Australia at Ballarat.
Victoria Blue 9 v Australian Capital Territory 8
Victoria Blue clinched a second extra-inning win in as many games, topping ACT in a huge team effort.
Sam Skinner drove in the winning run as Blue downed the Australian Capital Territory 9-8 in extras, hours after defeating Queensland in additional innings on diamond four.
VICB v ACT: Box Score and play-by-play
ACT scored once in the top of the eighth before a bases-loaded walk and Skinner’s single propelled Victoria Blue to victory in a see-sawing contest.
Vic Blue scored in the first but ACT hit back, taking a 4-1 lead.
The contest continued to swing with Victoria Blue scoring the next four runs to take the lead ahead of ACT drawing level.
Both teams traded runs in the sixth as it went to extras.
Jarryd Wood drove in three runs for Victoria Blue.
Aaron Riley had a couple of RBIs for ACT.
ACT faces Queensland tomorrow with first pitch from 9.15am on diamond two at Geelong.
Victoria Blue heads to Ballarat to face Western Australia from 2.30pm.
Western Australia v Victoria White, Melbourne Ballpark
Due to rain, this game was postponed with an updated schedule to be released shortly.