Surfers take next step up
With the Greater Brisbane League baseball season now done and dusted, the Bulletin sits down with Surfers Paradise Bluewaves coach Kevin Fenn to analyse the season gone.
OVERVIEW
Result: 5th overall, 20 wins, 20 losses.
■ The Bluewaves started their season with a bang and were sitting pretty on the top few rungs of the ladder early before finding themselves on the wrong end of the scoreline as the season wore on. The 2019-20 GBL season was still a vast improvement from their previous campaign and the Bluewaves would be excited about their potential for next season should they manage to retain the bulk of their roster.
THE STAR
■ “Scott Cronan. He was someone we could count on all year and did everything we needed him to do. When we were hit by injuries and lost our two best pitchers to the ABL, he took up an innings load. When we lost a few bats in the middle part of the season with guys moving away for work and other things, he stepped up and did that as well. Anything we needed, Scott delivered.”
RISING STAR
■ “From a club perspective, we had a few. Josh McDonald did a great job all year and was one of our starting pitchers as was Deegan Powell. Someone we want to build around in the future as well is Brad Croft. He’s reliable and will set a good platform for us in the future.”
HIGHLIGHT
■ “As the season was ending, there were a few wet days but we wanted to finish the season at 0.500 per cent with an even 20 wins and 20 losses. We convinced Ipswich to come and play a series against us down here and Kaleb Bowman broke the season strikeout record. It wasn’t just once, every time he was on the mound, we felt like we could win.”
LOWLIGHT
■ “It would have to be travelling to Narangba early in the season (November) which is the longest road trip we did all year. We lost the game by one run, 11-10, and up to that point, every one-run game we’d gotten in, we’d won. They were the team who came last for the season so to drive all the way up there and get beaten by one run was disappointing. We didn’t perform to what we could have and it’s a game I’d definitely love back.”
MR CONSISTENT
■ “Brad Croft (above) and import Kaleb Bowman.”
FINAL WORD
■ “Compared to the year previous, we had a really good year and I enjoyed it so I hope the players enjoyed it as well. We have a nice young core we can build around. Another highlight was Ryan McLennan being selected to play for New Zealand, which would have been the first time for him playing for the men’s national team. We’d also like to send a big congratulations to the Coomera Cubs for making playoffs. We know how hard it is to make it so to have them qualify shows the strength of baseball on the Gold Coast and hopefully we’re right there with them again next year.”