MIXED ROUND FOR GK

GEELONG- KOREA remains without a series win since the opening weekend of the Australian Baseball League season in November after falling to Melbourne yesterday.

GK was unable to stifle the Aces’ offence, falling 11-1 and settling for a split in their Round 5 series at Melbourne

Ballpark. Melbourne piled on four runs in the first inning and frequently added runs across the remainder of the contest as it created a threegame buffer between third and fourth in the Southwest Division.

GK’s pitching gave up 19 hits — second only to the 26 they allowed in a 25-4 loss to Adelaide on December 6 — as they slipped to 8-12 at the foot of the division at the midway point of the season. Starter Joo-hung Park leaked six runs on 10 hits in three innings as the Aces made a fast start.

Relievers Hyo-seung Shin, Tae-seung Jung and Kih-yun Yang each gave up an earned run as Melbourne continued to apply pressure by putting runners on base.

Geelong-Korea’s offence was unable to dig out of a hole as it had done on several occasions throughout the season. GK’s sole run came in the fourth inning.

Il Hur drew a lead-off walk and advanced to second on a single from Ji-yeol Lim.

Aces’ starter Ryoga Tomiyama fought back with a pair of strikeouts but an error on Seung-hyun Baek’s single allowed Hur to score.

Geelong-Korea managed nine hits but went two-fornine with runners in scoring position and left 10 players stranded on base.

GK returns to Geelong Baseball Centre on Thursday night to face Canberra in their first home series for a fortnight.

The Cavalry bounced back into form with a 3-1 series win over Brisbane to improve their record to 8-12.

Melbourne travels to Brisbane to face the Bandits from Friday night.