The Orioles were firing offensively and defensively in their commanding 9-1 win over Sunshine in the fist game of the 2019/20 VSBL Division 1 Grand Final series.
The first Orioles offensive dig saw Eagles starter Scott Riley-Barr doing well early, a three-up, three-down dig that included two strikeouts. The home team though was out through three batters as a double play ended the inning just after Nikau Pouaka-Grego became the first base runner of the game, a close play at first determining his fate after hitting it to shortstop.
The second inning started with Jacob Evans grounding out but a collection of four hits in a row saw Blackburn take an early lead in this crucial game.
Ryan Berg doubled to leftf ield, advancing to third on a single to Cooper Goodman. Berg would be the first to score in the ballgame as Charlie Collins' fly ball to right f eld got away from the fielder.
With Goodman at second and Collins at first, David Dicker strolled up to the plate and while the count got away from him when he looked at two called strikes, Dicker sent the ball down the left field line, doubling up while scoring Goodman.
Nick Rossell became the second out in the dig for the Orioles, before Liam Hopkins made it a four-run game when he too progressed the runners on base to score with a hard ground ball out to left field.
Down four runs early in the game, Sunshine needed to start the bottom of the second off strong, however a quick three outs in 10 pitches meant the Eagles were back to field just as quickly as they’d come off it.
Blackburn found some more hits at the top of the third, leadoff batter Luke Hughes singling but remaining at first as the next two batters fell around him. Hughes was able to advance to third as Goodman picked up his second hit of the night, however he was unable to score as the third out was made.
Another three-up, three-down bottom half of the innings to the Eagles' was not what they needed from being behind, a quality at-bat from Dicker in the following dig worrying the Sunshine defense yet again. The Eagles got out of the situation though through Riley-Barr’s pitching yet again, recording two strikeouts in that time.
Sunshine managed to get a runner in scoring position at the bottom of the fourth, Pouaka-Grego picking up a walk as Bryce Aldridge singled after him. It unfortunately didn’t lead anywhere for the Eagles as the side was retired, looking to restrict the Blackburn batters further.
Luke Hughes led off again at the top of the fifth and with a full count, stayed in the box with an extra three fouls before reaching first on an error to the Sunshine left fielder. Two consecutive groundouts had the Burners two down though Hughes had made it over to third and was looking to continue the scoring. That he did too as Goodman again came up with his third hit of the night.
A similar story transpired at the bottom of the fifth when Sunshine, though finding connection, couldn’t get on base as the Eagles went through three batters yet again.
The Orioles improved their lead by three as their sixth turn at bat came to an end, Dicker taking a walk as Sunshine made a pitching change, Griffin Weir entering the game.
Things looked shaky for Weir to start as he gave up three singles after Dicker’s turn at the plate. Those singles were to Nick Rossell, Hopkins and Ben Leslie, Dicker and Rossell scoring.
Hughes was walked also as the bases were loaded for the Orioles, a double play at second and first breaking up the runners but not before Hopkins crossed home plate.
Blackburn’s offense were switched on as had been the case all night as Sunshine were sent back to the dugout within five pitches this time as the seventh inning was a three-up, three-down affair for both sides too.
As Blackburn turned to reliever Sam Buccello, the Eagles were able to get their first run on the board through a Jordan Young single that scored Jason Tutt in a close play at home. Back-to-back singles to Joshua Byrne and Young and a fielder’s choice to Tutt saw him advance from each of these batters.
Blackburn kept on rolling even with a seven-run lead going into the final inning of the game, Evans doubling on a hard ground ball to right field, advancing on a wild pitch. Berg grounded out in his plate appearance but Evans made sure he scored. A couple of extra singles picked up by Collins and Dicker looked to extend the Orioles lead, but it went nowhere as Rossell flew out to centre field to end the inning.
Entering the bottom of the ninth and down by eight runs, it was clear from Aldridge’s swings that Sunshine wasn't going to go down without trying, three hefty swings eventually seeing him walk back to the dugout. Buccello managed to get Rory Meddick down on strikes too before becoming involved in fielding the ball to his teammate at first base for the final out of the ballgame.
While it was a close contest between the pitchers, Blackburn starter Andrew Jones threw seven innings for two hits, zero runs and two strikeouts. Buccello came in as relief and while he couldn’t save the shutout win, he only allowed two hits and one run with three strikeouts.
Riley-Barr started for Sunshine and lasted five innings, leading the game for strikeouts with four but giving up nine hits and five runs in that time. Griffin Weir had seven hits placed on him for four runs with two strikeouts.
On the bats, Goodman and Dicker each had three hits for Blackburn while Leslie tallied two with an RBI. Hopkins had a two-hit, three RBI game while Collins made it on base safely twice also. Dicker made it a double RBI for one of his hits, scoring two runs himself during the game.
The four hits to Sunshine were all singles to Pouaka-Grego, Aldridge, Byrne and Young, the latter providing the means for Tutt to score.
The action continues in the second game of the series at Melbourne Ballpark on Saturday afternoon where Blackburn will hope to win in two games while Sunshine will look to be tighter defensively to take it to a third game.