ABL Weekly Roundup: Week 3

Over the winter, we aim to meet your baseball fix here at Beyond the Box Score. Doing so, we’ll be covering the Australian Baseball League for each week that the competition is running. We also would like to remind you that many of the games are streamed and recorded on the league’s YouTube channel.

Due to the chaotic Winter Meetings, this comes a bit late and abridged. More lengthy writeups will return next week!

Canberra wins the series over Adelaide (3-1)

Game 1: CAN 10 - 9 ADE

Game 2: CAN 8 - 4 ADE

Game 3: CAN 14 - 6 ADE

Game 4: CAN 2 - 8 ADE

The Cavalry continue to just mash their way through ABL competition. With a league-high 82 runs scored, which is 21 more than second place, the Calvary kept putting it on at the behest of the Bite. Two of Canberra’s best early-season power hitters, David Kandials and Mike Reeves, went yard in the Game 3 win. On top of that, Marcus Greene Jr. knocked out two in this series. In the only Adelaide win, future Detroit Tigers wunderkind Jack O’Loughlin went five innings and allowed only two runs. The Adelaide bullpen successfully shut the door from then on to avoid the sweep.

Melbourne wins the series over Brisbane (4-0)

Game 1: BRS 0 - 8 MEL

Game 2: BRS 3 - 7 MEL (7)

Game 3: BRS 5 - 6 MEL (7)

Game 4: BRS 3 - 7 MEL (7)

Finally, the first sweep AND the first road team series win of the 2016-17 season!

Mark Hamburger led the Aces in the first game. Hamburger made quick work of the Bandits, giving up only two hits and striking out 12 in a complete-game shutout. Ronald Acuna had himself a bit of a series with two home runs in the first two games and all eight of his RBIs on the season. With some inclement weather, the final two games of the series were shortened to seven innings. Still, that did not stop the two teams from scoring runs. That included a career first home run and grand slam for sixteen-year-old Jarryd Dale.

Sydney wins the series over Perth (3-1)

Game 1: SYD 6 - 4 PER

Game 2: SYD 2 - 1PER (10)

Game 3: SYD 2 - 1 PER (7)

Game 4: SYD 1 - 5 PER

Two big takeaways come from the matchup in Blacktown between Sydney and Perth. First, the Sydney starting pitching was fantastic in the team’s wins. Trevor Foss started it off with six innings of two-run baseball where he fanned eight and walked only two. Luke Wilkins and Craig Anderson started the next day. They went 7 and 6.2 innings, respectively, and only gave up one run each. The other is the series at the plate that both Malik Collymore and Zach Shepherd had. Collymore went 8-15 with a walk, four doubles, a steal, and two RBI. Meanwhile, Shepherd was Mr. Clutch with a home run in Game 1 and both game-winning RBIs in Games 2 and 3.

On the Perth end, it’s hard to ignore what Luke Hughes did in the final contest to keep them from the sweep. The former Twin and Athletic went 2-3 with a home run, RBI, a walk, and two runs scored, propelling the Heat to a 5-1 road win.

Matchups for Next Week

Canberra (7-5) @ Melbourne (8-4)

Adelaide (5-7) @ Perth (4-8)

Brisbane (5-7) @ Sydney (7-5)

Anthony Rescan is a Contributing Writer at Beyond the Box Score. You can follow him on Twitter at @AnthonyRescan.