By Sean Talbot
In the first full slate of games since the Christmas break, the Upwey Ferntree Gully Tigers travelled to Barclay Reserve in Albion to take on the Sunshine Eagles with the Tigers looking to secure a 3-0 series sweep against the hosts. Sending ace Jarrod Turner to the mound after his brief starting appearance in the Tigers 9-4 on Tuesday, the right-hander was simply outstanding, holding the Eagles to one run over 8 innings, surrendering zero walks and only four hits, two of which came after the first innings as the clamps were firmly applied by the Tigers ace.
On the offensive side, six Tigers hitters posted hits, with Peter Schroeders, Wade McConnon, Jordan Elliott, coach Donavon Hendricks and Staci Rogers all posting multiples with McConnon and Schroders putting extra base hits on the board.
The Eagles jumped Upwey in the bottom of the 1st inning with Jordan Young lining a single to centerfield, Jeremy Young laying down a picture perfect sacrifice bunt to move his brother to second base. Young then stole third base before Jamie Young grounded sharply to Rogers at third base to pick up the opening salvo. From there Turner settled into his work while adjusting to the Mount Kosciuszko-style mound, sitting the Eagles down without scoring without much pushback as he proceeded to induce a series of groundballs and weak fly balls to ensure the visitors spent the majority of the game on offense. Rogers in particular was absolutely outstanding as he knocked down anything that came his way and kept runners off the basepaths.
The Tigers tied the game in the 3rd with Schroeders hitting a hard single to second base before McConnon tripled to right field into the swirling winds before they were unable to find a way to bring McConnon home as Jamie Young struck out both Josh and Donavon Hendricks and avoiding a potentially huge inning.
The Tigers were kept off the board until the 7th inning when a pitching change saw Je. Young relieve Ja. Young which the Tigers took complete advantage of, with Schroeders doubling to left field, McConnon reaching on an error, Elliott singling, a pass ball, an intentional walk to J Hendricks, D. Hendricks singling and Rogers lifting a sacrifice fly to right field saw the visitors now in possession of a 5-1 lead they would not relinquish. The Tigers struck again in the 9th inning after Connor Hughes was called upon in relief, with J. Hendricks walking, D. Hendricks reaching on an error that put runners at second and third and Rogers lifting a second sacrifice fly for the afternoon to push the score to 6-1.
Having reached his team-imposed pitch count, Turner gave way to veteran left hander Wes de Jong to close the game out and seal the series sweep, which is exactly what he did. Despite surrendering a one-out single to winter teammate Jo. Young, de Jong responded by getting the remaining Young brother to ground out to put a bow on the game which sees the Tigers now on a 4-0 dating back before Christmas. The win sees them sitting clear in third place on the Premier League ladder, a half a game behind Essendon in second and 1.5 games behind Waverley who remain in first place. The Tigers look forward to a midweek clash against Essendon at Boeing Reserve before heading back out on Sunday to face the Bombers again at The Hanger in what promises to be two outstanding games of baseball.
In the 2nds, some late line-up changes were necessitated by planned starting pitcher Ryder Wilson being unavailable and seeing Daniel Smith taking the ball for the Tigers who were caught uncharacteristically flat-footed by the home squad who capitalized on a lead-off walk and two groundballs to take a 1-0 lead before exploding for five runs in the 3rd inning, taking Smith to task and capitalizing on some sloppy defense and walks to stretch the lead to 6-0 before the Tigers called on flamethrowing reliever Josh Yung to stem the tide. To his credit, Yung was outstanding, throwing 4 1/3 innings, giving up two hits, zero walks and racking up seven strikeouts. It was too little too late though, as the Tigers could only manage a single run in the 5th inning to avoid being shutout and save face. Looking to regroup after the eventual 7-1 loss, they young Tigers team look forward to an acid test against third placed Essendon next weekend as they look to recreate the momentum,they found themselves benefitting from before the Christmas break.
The 3rds hosted the Eagles at Kings Park and were too big, too fast, and too strong as they waltzed to an early lead and held onto it as they ran away with a comfortable 14-2 win against the last placed Sunshine team which has been on the receiving end of some less than favorable results this season. The Tigers scored early and often as they put the undermanned Eagles side to the sword and ran away with the points, ensuring that they retain their stranglehold on 2nd place on the Premier League Thirds ladder. The team will host the fifth placed Bombers outfit at the Tiger Dome this weekend as they look to avenge their 7-1 loss before the Christmas Break.
The PL 4ths also hosted the Eagles on Sunday as they plated multiple runs in the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 6th innings whilst holding their opposition to a paltry four hits and one run. Six of the Tigers starting nine recorded hits, with Steve Williams and Russell Ferguson being the pick of the hitters with three apiece. Oscar Monagas and Dan McGrath shared pitching duties as the former made his first start for the year, while the wily veteran McGrath closed out the game in an effective appearance. The 11-0 Tigers will host the second place 11-1 Bombers next week in what promises to be the game of the season as the visitors will look to wrestle the stranglehold the Tigers have held on first place all season long.
In the Regional Metro East 5ths, the visiting Research Gold Roadrunners were handed a belting to the tune of a 15-3 result as they were outplayed at every facet of the game by an Upwey team looking to recreate the momentum they had at mid-seasons end. Never allowing the visitors a chance to breath or a lead, the Tigers led at the end of every inning as they capitalised on all of their opportunities to inflict maximum damage on an outgunned and undermanned Research team. The result sees Upwey now share fourth place on the ladder with Research Maroon as they look ahead to a clash with the Maroon Roadrunners next weekend.
The Regional Metro South 6ths travelled to Wadsworth Field at Sir Zelma Cowen Park to take on Malvern, however the hosts had no intention of being welcoming as they posted an 11-3 result to send the Tigers back to the eastern suburbs with another loss to their name. A surprising result to say the least given Malvern’s 1-9 record coming into the game, the Braves took full advantage of an underprepared Tigers team to inflict a loss that sees Upwey drop from third to fifth on the ladder with work to do to catch up to Chelsea Blue and Moorabbin who now occupy third and fourth respectively. The Tigers will play host to the Panthers from Moorabbin next weekend in a game that will surely have major implications on ladder positions coming into finals.
The Lady Tigers travelled to Springvale looking to start 2024 continuing their epic win streak and did just that, jumping the hosts for the maximum seven runs in the 1st inning to put the game out of reach before the Lions even had a chance to breath before holding them scoreless in the bottom half. Scoring another four in the 2nd innings and staring down the barrel of an 11-0 scoreline, the Lions were again held off the board while conceding a further two runs in the 3rd inning before finally finding their way onto the scoreboard with the score now showing 13-1 to the Tigers. Finally holding the Lady Tigers scoreless in the 4th innings, the Lions plated 6 in the bottom half as they looked to claw their way back into a position to make the game interesting and potentially pull off an upset against the ladder leaders.
It was not to be however, as the visitors pushed a further four runs across the plate to balloon the score to 17-6 to ensure there would not be sufficient time for the Lions to score the required runs for a win given the seven-run maximum per inning. Chelsea Mosbey again led the way for the Lady Tigers both her start on the mound and three RBIs, while Jess McDonald continued her purple patch of form with three hits as Zienna McCulloch also chipped in with three hits and four RBI’s. The Lady Tigers host Pakenham Black next weekend as first meets seventh in what will surely be an uphill battle for the Pumas as they visit the Tiger Dome while attempting to become the first team to hang a loss on the Upwey squad for the season.
