ON a frosty and cold yet thankfully clear day the South Gippsland Miners Baseball Club played its first official home game at its new ground, Federation Training Oval, Nerrena Road, Leongatha.
Also in Leongatha, the U13 team played at the Chiro Christian School.
Small but interested crowds gathered for what was to be a clear win for the new club/sport on the scene with two out of three wins on the day awarded to the Miners.
The South Gippsland Miners Under 13s won their home opener 13 – 1 over the Sale Rangers.
Playing their first home game in Leongatha at Chairo Christian School’s oval, Miners took an early five run lead in the first.
Mitch McGrath started the rally in the first innings with a double that scored Ethan Davis. Then the tail end of the order, Cam Prosser, Tom Nicholas and Oscar Davis came through with hits that scored the rest.
Ethan Davis pitched a shutout for two innings, backed with the solid defence of Matt Portelli, who took a nice catch in centerfield.
Sale struggled to get base runners but played some solid defence behind the pitching of Anthony Smith and the play of shortstop, Aussie Bauer.
The Rangers could not capitalise on their opportunities and the Miners added eight more with three runs scored on the day by Bailey Harvey.
Cam Prosser had his debut as pitcher in the last inning.
He gave up a run after a double by Bailee McEnzie led off the innings.
South Gippsland Miner, Will Davies slowed the Ranger come back with a put out to first baseman, Corban Davis, but time ultimately ran out as the Miners took their 10th win from 10 outings this season.
Next weekend the U13 Miners will have a bye as seven of the team will represent the Latrobe Valley Baseball League in the Under 14 Winter State Championships at Knox.
Miners is proud to have contributed seven of the 16 players selected to play in the championships for the LVBA.
The games start at noon and 2:30pm on Saturday, July 16.
Awesome work from a brand new team which is playing baseball for the first time ever. Well done to all our boys representing the club and the league.
B Grade
Sale 27 defeated South Gippsland 7
Unfortunately the team just wasn’t up to the task today going down to Sale in a great match.
Everyone applied themselves giving 110 percent towards everything they did as shown by the seven runs scored.
Their highest scoring game yet.
Sadly the fielding let Miners down today.
In a game of firsts young Annie Carter pitched and did a fantastic job.
Brodie Cocks as per usual did his job pitching really well.
Damon Ginnane also did a superb job not only on the mound but with a fantastic sliding catch in left field.
Brian Osborne also got a go on the mound and did well as our last pitcher on the mound for the day.
Sale put up some tough pitchers with Kieran Donoghue which only confirms that the B Grade side is improving at the bat, also scoring well with great runners.
Scoring runs for the Miners today were Damon Ginnane, Michael Thomas, Bart Riyter and Brodie Cocks.
A Grade
South Gippsland 27 defeated Sale 3
Before the A Grade game both teams observed a minutes silence for Trevor Banks who sadly passed away on July 1.
Trevor was a dearly loved member of the Morwell Cougars Baseball Club.
And then Miners played a flawless game.
With the first win in the club’s very first A Grade game at home the guys sure did turn up to play.
Home runs, stolen bases, strikeouts and pitching, Miners had it all and from the very outset were unbeatable.
Mitchell Bowen from the Miners really had a day out with multiple hits including the club’s first home run on its home ground.
To go with his impeccable defence he really had a massive day.
Then there was the usual suspect in our pitching lineup, Stewart Mathieson, with another stellar effort today on the mound to finally get the win.
Then came hard hitting Andrew Katz, obviously taking on board the challenge of Mitch’s homerun to produce a massive homerun; Kratz hit it miles over.
There were solid performances from everyone on field today and now we know the bench mark for ourselves.
Keep it rolling team.
Impeccable playing from the Miners at their first home match left all three of our teams beaming at the close of the event.
Gracious in defeat: B Grade had a great day despite the loss at the Miners’ new home ground in Leongatha.