Day three of the 2020 Australian Youth Championships saw some fantastic results for Victorian teams as Victoria Blue improved to 2-2 in the U16s while Victoria White got their first win on the board. In the U18s, Victoria Blue has a 3-2 record going into day four as Victoria White sits at 1-4.
More action-packed games are set for day four as Victorian teams need to keep climbing the ladder and getting wins on the board.
DAY THREE RESULTS - U16 VICTORIA BLUE & WHITE
Victoria White 5 v Australian Capital Territory 4
Victoria White scored a pair of late runs to overcome the Australian Capital Territory for its first U16 win of #AYC2020 in Ballarat on Sunday.
White overturned a one-run deficit in entering the bottom of the sixth and Angelo Reale-Rontos closed out the game with a second scoreless inning to wrap up a 5-4 victory.
VICW v ACT: Box Score and play-by-play
Vic White took the early lead, scoring twice in the third.
Harper Rickard’s two-out single drove in the first run before an error doubled White’ advantage.
The ACT hit back with four runs in the top of the fifth, headlined by a run-scoring triple.
An error helped Victoria White pull within a run before hitting the lead an inning later.
Joel Prpic’s two-out single kept the sixth alive ahead of an error allowing two runs, including the go-ahead, to score.
Victoria White faces Country New South Wales from 9am on diamond four at Geelong tomorrow, followed by Western Australia at 12.45pm on diamond two.
The ACT is at Melbourne Ballpark to face New South Wales and Western Australia from 1pm.
Victoria Blue 6 v Country New South Wales 1
Victoria Blue's U16s improved to 2-2 after limiting Country New South Wales to one hit in a solid win this afternoon.
Nicholas Bertucci and Charlie Pierson combined to allow just one hit as Victoria Blue downed Country New South Wales 6-1 at the 2020 U16 Australian Youth Championship on Sunday.
Bertucci worked 3 2/3 innings, striking out three, and Pierson punched out three in 3 1/3 to lay the platform for a second win in four games.
VICB v CNSW: Box Score and play-by-play
Vic Blue opened the scoring in the third and added insurance with three in the fifth.
They added two in the sixth.
Tom Brookes, Bronson Neave and Patrick Gawith each collected two hits to support the strong pitching.
Parker Robinson had the hit for Country New South Wales.
Victoria Blue will face Western Australia on diamond one at Geelong from 9.15am tomorrow, followed by Queensland at 3.15pm on diamond two.
DAY THREE RESULTS - U18 VICTORIA BLUE & WHITE
Victoria Blue 9 v New South Wales 2
Charlie Collins and Dante Caruso drove in threes runs to power Victoria Blue past New South Wales in their U18 gold medal rematch at the 2020 Australian Youth Championship on Sunday morning.
Collins and Caruso helped power the offence as Vic Blue racked up 11 hits to support a strong start from Cody Caulfield.
VICB v NSW: Box Score and play-by-play
Caruso finished a homer shy of a cycle after singling to open the scoring and tripling to drive in twos runs as Victoria Blue went up 3-0.
Blue added to its lead at regular intervals before NSW added a pair of late runs.
Caulfield kept New South Wales quiet early, striking out four and allowing only two hits and a pair of walks in 4 2/3 innings.
Collins, Caruso and Mitchell Homfray all had three hits as Victoria Blue’s first three hitters went a combined 9-for-11 with seven RBIs in a strong display of hitting.
Jarryd Wood and Jaycob Pascuzzi also brought home runs.
Country New South Wales 6 v Victoria White 5
Zak Elvy stifled the bats and Zach Murphy cleared the bases to lift Country New South Wales to a thrilling U18 win over Victoria White at Melbourne Ballpark.
Murphy doubled on a fly ball to lift Country NSW to its first win after overcoming an early 4-0 deficit.
CNSW v VICW: Box Score and play-by-play
Victoria White scored four runs in the top of the first on Jordan Baumann’s RBI-triple, a single from Kynan Jones and an error and bases loaded walk.
Country got a run back in the bottom of the inning on Nathan Bezrouchko’s single.
Reliever Zak Elvy then helped stifled Victoria White’s bats, allowing only one run over 3 1/3 innings ahead of Nick Battese striking out two in a pair of scoreless innings.
Runs in the fifth and sixth put Country NSW in a position to strike.
And they did in the bottom of the seventh on Murph’s double.
Victoria Blue 0 v South Australia 1
Jack Higginbotham and Hamish Rees combined to help South Australia shut out Victoria Blue in their #AYC2020 U18 clash.
The duo combined to allow just two hits over seven innings and Darcy Barry provided all the offence SA needed to claim victory and improve to 2-2.
VICB v SA: Box Score and play-by-play
Higginbotham worked 4 2/3 innings, allowing two hits and striking out four, and Hamish Rees punched out three in 2 1/3 innings.
South Australia broke the deadlock with a run in the third.
Barry singled with two outs to give SA a 1-0 lead that held up hours after they lost 14-13 against Western Australia.
SA managed just four hits themselves as pitching dominated.
Nathan Smith worked 3 1/3 innings, striking out two and giving up two hits without any runs.
Jarryd Wood worked a scoreless seventh.
U18 EVENT HUB: Results, schedule and standings
South Australia is up against the Australian Capital Territory from 3.30pm on diamond four in Geelong tomorrow.
Victoria Blue faces Victoria White at 2pm on diamond one.
Queensland 10 v Victoria White 0
A trio of three-run innings and strong pitching helped Queensland to a 10-0 victory over Victoria White on day three of the 2020 U18 Australian Youth Championship at Melbourne Ballpark.
Kyle Ashby homered and Patrick Day struck out three across four scoreless innings as Queensland kept Vic White hitless and improved its record to 3-1 on Sunday.
QLD v VICW: Box Score and play-by-play
Queensland scored three runs in the second, fourth and fifth.
Ashby’s two-run shot came in the fourth to make it 7-0 ahead of Kai-Noa Wynyard and Riki Ward driving in runs in the fifth of a run-rule win.
Day walked four but did not allow a hit across four innings.
Harrison White then worked a scoreless fifth.
U18 EVENT HUB: Results, schedule and standings
Queensland is at Ballarat tomorrow to face New South Wales from 10am.
Victoria White goes head-to-head with Victoria Blue at 2pm on diamond one in Geelong.