Tuatara trumped by the Aces
The Auckland Tuatara’s season came to an end at North Harbour Stadium last night, with a 6-2 defeat to the Melbourne Aces.
It all came down to a horrendous fifth inning from a Tuatara point of view, where six Melbourne hitters touched home plate and it meant the Aces clinched the three-game playoff series 2-0 and advance to next weekend’s final.
For the Tuatara, the task of going all the way this season proved to be a step too far, and given the number of their best players they’ve lost over the backend of the season, it isn’t really surprising.
They have been understrength for the past month and there are only a certain number of players who leave the roster and go back to the United States before it becomes too much of a struggle.
But while there will be disappointment at these back-to-back losses, it has been a season of huge success for the fledgling team.
When the Tuatara lost 7-5 to Canberra Cavalry on December 5, there were just 220 spectators at North Harbour Stadium.
On January 25, there were 2310 in the crowd for the 1-0 win over the Brisbane Bandits. For last night’s game, the Tuatara’s first ever home playoff game, there were 4208 spectators in attendance.
It was the second biggest crowd in the history of the ABL and it showed that the Tuatara are here to stay. Some in the crowd were lifelong baseball fans, but many have recently been swept up by the euphoria around the team, and the hope is that they’ll all be back next season.
For this game the Aces had the 27-year-old American Wes Helsabeck starting on the mound. He’s never achieved that much in minor league baseball back in the States, but has been outstanding for the Aces this season, with three wins in his seven games and an ERA of just 1.91.
So it was vital for the Tuatara to knock him out early and get Melbourne’s bullpen into the game. That plan started well, with lead-off hitter Yonny Hernandez getting a single in the bottom of the first. Kent Blackstone moved him to third with another single and later Jared Walker drove in two, with hit just over the top of second base.
Another single from Walker in the third put runners at the corners with two outs, but Kim Won-Seok skied the ball to right field for the third out. Things took a turn for the worse for the Tuatara in the fifth inning as Melbourne scored six runs as firstly Jen-Ho Hseng, then Koji Takahasi both got into trouble, coughing two and four earn runs respectively.
Being down 6-2 meant the Tuatara were now in a massive hole and they never got a rally going. As the innings ticked by, the inevitability of a defeat grew. While the Tuatara managed to stop Melbourne from scoring any more runs, the Tuatara bats stayed quiet, with Hernandez being the last out.