CAIRNS, QLD -- The U25 National Championship continues this week, hosted by the Cairns Baseball League. Full results and recaps can be found below.
New South Wales 11, Victoria 2
The first game of the day saw New South Wales use three three-run innings to soundly defeat Victoria 11-2. Chris Douglas earned the win with three strong innings while Jack Jeffries struck out seven batters in four innings on the mound. At the plate, Josh Strong and Matt Smith each drive in a pair of runs to lead the NSW offence.
Queensland 10, South Australia 0
Queensland continued its dominance of the tournament with a 10-0 shutout win over South Australia in five innings. Jack Barrie got the scoring started for QLD with a solo shot in the top of the second inning. QLD put up a four-spot in the next frame and added three more runs in the top of the fourth inning. Andy Campbell's two-run home run in the top of the fifth, paired with Challen Smith's dominance of the SA lineup sealed the five-inning win for QLD.
New South Wales rallied late, scoring all four of its runs in the final two frames to beat Victoria 4-3 in walkoff fashion. VIC got on the board first, scoring twice in the second inning and adding another run in the next frame. Jon Bannister led the VIC offence with two hits and two RBIs. However, NSW rallied to tie the ballgame in the bottom of the sixth inning and scored again in the bottom of the final frame for the win. Jeremy Bec led NSW at the plate with three hits.
South Australia 9, Queensland 7
South Australia rallied from the morning's shutout loss to defeat Queensland 9-7 in a back-and-forth battle. SA got on the board first with a pair of runs in the top of the first frame, but QLD answered with four runs in the bottom half. SA tied the game with one run apiece in the second and third innings, but QLD regained the lead with a run in the third frame. Trailing by one run, SA put a four-spot on the board in the fourth inning and added an insurance run in the top of the final frame for a 9-7 win. Kyal Williams led SA, going 5-for-5 with a home run and two RBIs, while also chipping in an inning of scoreless relief to pick up the win on the mound. Markus Dymalla put up big numbers at the plate for QLD, hitting a grand slam and driving in five runs, while Jack Barrie hit his second home run of the day.
Tomorrow, NSW and QLD face off while SA and VIC match up again.