Lara puts undermanned Mounties to the sword

LARA warmed up for the finals with a massive win over Bellarine in Geelong baseball on Saturday, which featured a 10-run final innings.

The top side will now meet Guild in next Sunday’s qualifying final, while Bellarine will meet Deakin for the second straight week, buoyed for Saturday’s elimination final battle after a 10-4 win at the weekend.

LARA 23 MOUNTIES 2

Heading the A Grade table for most of the season, Lara was never troubled by a Mounties outfit that was missing key players and was clearly outmatched.

The outcome became clear early, as the Wildcats chased Mounties starter Gavin Smith from the hill in the second with 13 earned runs against his name on a combination of walks, HPBs and seven hits.

While Mitch Parry tossed a scoreless third, his side again came under fire in a 10-run fourth as the potent Lara attack again stepped up the pressure and continued to build on already bloated batting numbers headed by Aaron Green (four hits and seven RBIs), Ben Hammer (two and three), Cameron Forbes (two and two), Ross Wilson (two and two), Jared Berman (two and two) and Steve Wilson (two and two).

BELLARINE 16 DEAKIN 4

Although this game had no bearing on final standings, it was a disappointing display by the reigning premier, which was behind the eight ball when the Bears bludgeoned three in the first and another two in the second.

While the final margin was clear-cut, it was magnified somewhat by the eight unearned runs conceded later in the game — principally off Sam Fraser, who attacked the strike zone but was let down by some errant defence as the Blues slipped up four times under pressure.

Despite the contributions of Mark Rigby, Cameron Lyons and Fraser — all with two hits — the Blues were seriously outgunned by a Bellarine attack led by Matt Sage (four hits and two RBIs), Cameron Brown (four and two, with a HPB), Wayne Visser (two and two), Jack Auld (two and two) and Lachlan Hockey (one and two) in a terrific all-round team effort in support of Simon Murry (two earned runs over four innings) before Sage closed out the seven-inning contest.

GUILD 12 SAINTS 7

It was a head-spinning start at Pioneer Park, with Saints starter Dylan Teixeira being taken for five in the top of the first — including a tworun triple by James Renouf — before Saints applied a blowtorch of their own to James Wood, who tattooed the leadoff and walked another three as the home side generated a six spot in the equaliser.

However, with Wood set- tling into his work and reliever Brad Egan going hitless over three against his old club, the Lions were able to establish some ascendancy before forging away later in the game despite decent stints on the hill by Emerson Rickard and Jordan Isbister.

Amassing 14 hits to three, the Lions — even without leading hitter Liam Spence — had grand contributors in Mitch Miller (three hits and two RBIs), Tony Kilfoyle (two and three), Troy Snarey (two and two), Renouf (one and two), Jason Peoples (two and one) and Jarryd Wood (two hits). Saints relied heavily on Marcel Ernstzen (three RBIs) and Chris Rickard (two).