Wild start to season
WITH conditions in total contrast to the A-grade double-header last week, the official start of the Geelong Baseball Association season was a truly wintry one.
Wild weather swept across the state causing the occasional interruption to play and a couple of rainouts in the lower grades.
Bellarine led all the way over Mounties to remain unbeaten along with Guild and Newport, who had big wins over Saints and Colac respectively. Deakin pipped Lara with a late surge to join the Wildcats at 1-1, with Mounties and Colac winless so far.
Deakin opened its winning account with a late revival against the Wildcats, who shook off an early deficit to plate four unearned runs that gave them a break after four.
Not to be denied, however, the Blues rode another stellar complete game by Chris Webb (no earned runs) and forged to the lead in the bottom of six, when Wildcats superstar Cameron Forbes came in for some uncharacteristic treatment when his side looked the goods for its second win.
Despite the loss, Lara would again be delighted with the start of Chris Lewis, who scattered five hits over five innings against a Deakin side that was well-served in offence by Kobe Greenhalgh (two hits and an RBI) and Andy Medew (one and two).
Jarrod Fraim (two hits) showed the way for a Wildcats side that is again looking to the likes of fellow stalwarts Ben Hammer and Ross Wilson for offensive conversion.
Buoyant after its promising form on double-header Saturday, the Saints were brought back to earth at the hands of the reigning premier.
Guild conjured up another complete team performance that already sees the club unbeaten with a staggering 55 runs in the credit column — and only four against.
Saints ace Tayler Rowe was the casualty in an early Guild barrage that gleaned eight in the first innings — on a cumulative seven hits, a HPB and an error — before reliever Emerson Rick- ard was able to restore some sanity to a Lions scoring rate that was again bumped up later in the contest.
Despite conceding two in the first, Guild workhorse Brad Egan was his usual efficient self before handing the ball to Jarrod Durston and then Jarryd Wood to close out a one-sided contest with the minimum of fuss.
For the third time already this season, the Guild offence was unstoppable, with eight players contributing to a shellacking — the standouts being Ryan Stewart (four hits, including a home run, for four RBIs), Jarrod Durston (four hits, three ribbies), Tony Kilfoyle (three and two) and Harry Levy (two and three).
Although the final margin was clear-cut, Mounties were right in this contest through the early innings to keep tabs on a powerful Bears offence that put the result beyond doubt with three in the fifth and two more in the sixth the last.
While starter George Davidson and reliever Gavin Smith were both solid on the hill for Mounties, the offensive damage was done by the Bears’ Chris Barker, Cameron Brown and Lewis Weldon, who amassed eight of the side’s dozen hits, including a Barker round-tripper and two long balls by Weldon for four RBIs.
Conceding three unearned runs did not help the cause for Mounties, who could muster just four knocks against Lachlan Hockey and Bears Manager Brown, who chimed in with the save for a super-impressive Bellarine outfit.
Scoring in every innings of a onesided contest, Newport retained its unbeaten record against a Colac outfit that slipped up in defence too often and was unable to make offensive inroads against Rams starting pitcher Aaron Green and closer Tim Reid.
While Colac starter Michael Reid and reliever Josh Hay showed solid control, they were under constant pressure from a Newport offence that had outstanding contributors in Jayde Thorne (four hits and four RBIs), Green (three and one), Jake Vanderlinde (three and one), Mitch Clement (two and two), Justin Charles (three RBIs), Zac Seipolt and Connor Schibeci.