Division One Preview for Weekend 25th and 26th October 2014.
Last week’s round of matches in Division 1 lived up to its billing when we saw some upset results and one extra innings game.
This Saturday at 3.30pm Doncaster play host to Cheltenham after the Rustlers had a walk off win when Paul Rutgers homered with his 3rd hit of the game. Cheltenham will be buoyed by the fact that they took the points after outhitting Melbourne 12 to 10 with 8 different players getting on safely. Meanwhile expect Doncaster to extend their starter, Luke Westphal, a bit further after he threw 9 strike outs in 6 innings last week. The real issue for Doncaster is how to produce runs as they were shut out last week by Blackburn and the Dragons have only tallied 3 runs in the other 2 games.
Geelong will be at home to Essendon on Saturday after the Dons had a loss last week to give Newport their 1st win of the season. Geelong will go into the contest confident that they can bat their way around the Bombers after collecting 12 hits last week but the Baycats will be looking to erase the memory of fielding errors that cost them dearly against Preston. Starters for the Baycats will most likely be their veteran Cam Forbes or James Wood the teenager who was impressive with both bat and the ball at La Trobe playing fields.
Waverley at Blackburn will be an interesting contest. The Wildcats who come off a 10 innings win against Upwey will be set to prove that they can produce runs. The team from Napier Park has been shut out twice so far. Waverley was without their starter Kennedy last week but had the economy of Darcy, Pappanicolou and closer Matthew Wilson on the mound to keep the score to 4. The difficulty for them will be that Adam Bright is the likely starter for The Orioles after he threw 8 shutout innings against Doncaster last week, allowing only 3 hits and no walks. Blackburn gathered 6 hits in the win so will also be looking to improve their batting this week. The pitching stocks of these two teams make it look like it will be a low scoring affair.
Upwey travel to Surrey Park after 2 wins and a loss to visit the talented Melbourne team. The Demons have included some of the their players that were unavailable in the early rounds but Andy Mann didn't pitch last week, so barring injury expect him to start. Ratcliffe is likely to relieve after he threw 97 pitches in his start last week. The Tigers will be looking to break out of the box a bit after Waverley kept them to 5 hits last week. Luke Howell was also impressive as he went well into the game, pitching 8 innings in the loss.
Sandringham hosts Newport after both teams have had good games against the reigning premier Essendon. Sandringham were unlucky in 10 innings during round one whilst The Rams notched up their first win after leading the Bombers 5-0 last week. The issue for Newport will be how to produce and defend runs as Sandy is ahead on both. Williamstown outgunned The Royals last week when Andrew Russell played DH and hit 3 home runs.
Preston who travel to Williamstown will have one thing on their minds. How will they stop Russell? This is not an easy question to answer, as he is likely to start on the mound for the Wolves and tackle the Pirates from a completely different angle. Bass starred in relief for Preston against the Baycats last week and collected 3 hits with the bat. Pirates, Hood and Smiley are also hitting with power and consistency in the middle order, if Russell pitches he will have his work cut out for him containing those guys.The northerners however, will go into the game with plenty of options on the hill after Godbould started last week before he passed the ball to Travis Bass. Williamstown may also call on David Asp in relief, as he started last week, as well as Josh Lee and Ryan Camov in the bullpen.
In Division 2 the top of the table clash sees Berwick host Sunshine. Sunshine are undefeated whilst the Cougars suffered their first loss to Malvern last week. Meanwhile, Malvern will look to test out Moorabbin at the Pantherdome as both sides sit on 2 and 1. St.Kilda travel to Springvale looking for their 1st win against the Lions who are also clustered at the top of the ladder on 2 and 1. Port Melbourne will be looking to bounce back as they take on Bonbeach St.Chads. The Mariners looked promising in the first couple of games and have improved this season but were blanked by Werribee last week when Tayler Rowe threw 10 strikeouts.
The match of the round this week is Werribee at Fitzroy. The Giants are travelling well after Tayler Rowe’s return from Sunshine this year. Rowe sat down 19 batters in succession during the Giants match against Port Melbourne last week. Meanwhile, Fitzroy will be looking to add to their win against St.Kilda on the road. The Lions have been competitive in their other 2 losses to Malvern and Sunshine so will be looking to seal the deal and announce their presence this week. Danny King or Carl Wilson are likely starters at Merri Park.
In Women’s Division 1 this Saturday, Werribee travel to Malvern after The Giants were well beaten by Essendon last night in a mid-week game. Footscray goes to Essendon to fight in a contest that is impossible to pick and Doncaster will attempt to put a dent into the undefeated Springvale. Then on Thursday Footscray and Springvale meet at Melbourne Ball Park at 6.30pm.
I hope to see you around the grounds.
Cam Gleeson
Follow on Twitter @valiantcam
Our hashtag has been updated to #vsbl