Match Reports
Seniors Round 11
16 December 2007
FIRSTS 6 def Fitzroy 2
After what has seemed road trip after road trip the 1’s faced Fitzroy at the “Tigerdome” in a game that a loss would, although not mathematically but effectively, kill off any chance of seeing post season action.
What ensued was certainly the best collective effort by the team this season and except for a couple of outstanding plays from the visitors centre fielder and short stop the final result would have been greater than the 6 to 2 margin in favour of the good guys.
Andrew Jones again got the start and pitched into the 7th inning. After a little hiccup last week Andrew was back in control of his location and with a combination of good velocity on his fast ball and clever use of his off speed pitches kept the Lions to 7 scattered hits and no runs to record his 4 win of the season.
Sean Meldrum relieved and completed the 7th and 8th for Lucas Unland (who got careless and gave up his first run for the year in the 1sts) to close out the ninth.
Brendan Simmons was the offensive and defensive star for the Tigers picking up 3 hits and making several great plays in the hot corner. We probably take a bit for granted the effort Boo puts in each week travelling from Albury for the games but I can assure you all his performances on the field are anything but and our lineup looks very much the weaker without him in it.
Leon Rice bounced back with 2 nice drives and every other member of the line up collected a hit each – the first time this season we have had every member of the line up with at least on hit.
Defensively we were errorless which coupled with the strong performances from the pitching staff made it very hard for Fitzroy to get back into the game, particularly with Pete Schroeders picking off 4 runners on the base paths either attempting to steal or going back to the base.
I wish everyone in the club – players, supporters, parents etc all the very best for a happy and safe festive season and a very enjoyable New Year and I’ll see you all on the 6th when all teams prepare for the run to the finals where realistically we can get all 5 team to see post season action.
Fitzroy 000 000 011 2 runs 11 hits
Upwey FTG 042 000 00X 6 runs 12 hits
Hits : Simmons 3; Rice L 2; Hopcraft, Unland N, Oxworth, Schroeders, Helleren, Cheesman, Groner 1 each
RBI’s : Simmons 2; Hopcraft, Unland N, Cheesman, Groner 1 each
Pitching : Jones 6IP 7 hits 5 K’s 3BB 0 runs 0 Eruns
Meldrum 2IP 3 hits 0 K’s 0 BB 1 run 1 Erun
Unland L 1IP 1 hit 0 K’s 2 BB 1 run 1 Erun
SECONDS 9 def Fitzroy 2
With the boys facing the undefeated outfit of Fitzroy they were keen to reverse the outcome of last time. With the welcome return to the mound of Rowan Johnstone the Tigers put runs on the board early to startle their opposition. The offense was lead by Anthony Bons and Andrew Stork both putting triples to their names and an unlikely Adrian Rice with two hits of his own. In defence Trent Chivers made a couple of standout plays to back up his pitchers. With the solid performance of the bats Rowan left the game with the lead after four complete innings and was backed up by Adrian Rice to close out the game. The score line proved that the Tigers came out to play and proved to the rest of the league that they will be the team to beat come second half. The boys now share top spot with Fitzroy and have some momentum going into the New Year.
Hits: Rice (2), Hair, Bons, Williams, Elliott, Stork (1 each)
RBI’s: Stork (3), Williams, Bons (1 each)
Pitching: Johnstone 4 inng, 1ER, 4 SO
Rice 3 inng, 0 ER, 2 SO
Wishing you all a very merry Christmas and a happy and safe new year.
Ayresy.
THIRDS 9 lost to Fitzroy 10
Second place on the ladder was up for grabs on Sunday as we took on Fitzroy at Merri reserve. It proved to be a very close game that went down to the bottom of the last dig to decide the eventual winner. Some of the Tigers supporters were almost too busy chatting to know what the score was and I understand that there was a bit of recipe, and Christmas lollies, swapping going on.
Notable events in the first dig were the “hits” to Sean and Michael Rice. Sean, on the helmet while batting. Is that using your head to get on base?. However, Michael was hit while pitching as he copped a hard return hit that saw him hit the deck. He recovered after a few minutes, much to the delight on everyone, and continued pitching, after checking his equipment. We ended up 2 down at the end of the first dig as Fitzroy were getting a couple of hits and being very aggressive when base running.
Ben got his mum excited with a 2 base hit to start the second dig but we were unable to score him as the Lions came up to bat. We shut them down and kept them scoreless. In the third, Andy gets via an error, Sean gets walked, Scott scores Andy with a hit to left field, Chris scores Sean and then Scott gets called out while sliding in at home. The video referee may have come up with a different result as we go side away after scoring 2 runs. Bottom three and again we shut the Lions down without scoring so 2 all after 3 digs.
Top 4 and Wozza gets on via a hit to centre field, Yoda (Yuley)gets on via a muffed fly, Andy Williams scores Wozza, Sean scores Yoda, Scott scores Wilko, and Sean scores on a passed ball as we go side away after putting 4 runs in the book. Bottom 4, Ashie is now pitching and Sean has come into catch. He temporarily stops this base stealing rot and gets the runner going from first to second as Yoda collects the throw and makes the tag. The lions score just 1 as we get to bat again.
Top 5 and Ben gets his mum excited again with another double. Ashies then gets on via a wild throw that also scores Ben. Wozza gets on via a fielders choice but is later given out at third in another play where the video umpire may have given a different result. Sean, complete with catching gear and batting helmet on, even went out to check with both umpires. However the decision stood and we continued with the innings. Yoda got on via a walk and was pushed around by Andy and scored by Wilko. We get 2 more for the Tigers as the Lions come up to bat.
Bottom 5 and a couple of walks, then a big triple base hit for the Lions catcher, who had been reported by the umpire for AOL, as they scored 2. Yoda and Andy combine in a double play to get a couple of outs but they picked up another 2 runs before we get the third out.
It was not quite time in game as we came up for the 6th with the score at 8 to 7. Chris got an via a hit pitched ball. He is pushed around by Ashie and then scored by Wozza as we pick up another run as the Lions come out to bat. Wilko comes to the mound with the lions needing 2 to draw and 3 to win. Unfortunately, that is exactly what they did as we ended up going down 10 to 9 when the umpire called game The lions were very aggressive in their base running stealing a total of 12 bases for the game.
It is very close in the top four of the division 2 thirds ladder and with the narrow loss, we have slipped from second to fourth. Mulgrave are a game clear on top, then Fitzroy, a game clear of Bonbeach who are in front of us on percentage. Given that we almost beat the Lions who beat Mulgrave by 2 runs last week we have a good chance of getting back up the ladder when we return on Sunday January 13th to play Mulgrave at home.
Until then, for those that can enjoy life without baseball, and everybody else, have a FANTASTIC AND SAFE CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR. All the best to those involved in rep teams early in January and we look forward to seeing everybody in the new year.
FOURTHS 5 lost to Fitzroy 9
FIFTHS 22 def Blackburn B 2
Well what a difference a week makes, this week was a fantastic team effort where everyone lifted up a notch and we played some really good baseball.
We got off to a good start in our first innings by putting four runs over with the aid of a walk, fielding error and a couple of nice hits.
Blackburn countered with one run in there first innings. We shut them down with a strike out from Tim Annett on the hill, a caught stealing at third when the runner ran over the bag and a pop up to Tim on the mound.
The second innings saw us put over 5 runs, with the entire side putting the ball into play with either a hit or forcing the fielding error.
In the bottom half of the innings our opponents got another run due to a walk and a hit. We shut this innings down with a strike out from Tim, a ground out to Bobby at third and a ground ball back to Tim on the hill.
In our third innings we let fly with a bomb from Jonesy , 4 doubles, two singles to amass seven runs.
In Blackburn third batting innings we let them in momentarily with a hit and two walks loading the bases. We knuckled down and prevented them from scoring with two strike outs and a fly ball to Narelle at second to close out the innings.
In our forth we put on four runs with a couple of hits spread across our line up.
We took the field and kept our opposition scoreless with a strike out from Scott who was now reliving on the hill and two ground balls to Tim now fielding at short.
In our fifth we put over two runs. The first was a solo home rum from “Two Bomb Jones” and the other was due to a string of good hitting and putting the ball into play.
For our final fielding innings we really only needed Tim at short. The first out was a routine ground ball to short and then Tim got an unassisted double play by taking a fly ball behind second and then running over to first getting the runner out who failed to tag.
The most pleasing thing today we the fact that the whole team stepped up, everyone contributed.
Hitting - Rob Jones 4 (2hrs, 1db), Gotsch 3 (1db), Bobby Simonton 3 (2db’s), Leggy Snr 3, Tim Annett 3, Tim Watson 2 and singles to Beau Jenkins and Narelle Quinn.
RBI’s - Everyone got at least one!
Seasons greetings
The forty year old fat rookie.
WOMENS washout against Springvale