Werribee Giants have made an emphatic statement with a series win over Newport Rams in the Baseball Victoria summer league division 2.
In an enthralling three-game series, the Giants won the final two games, including an epic 16-inning game two.
The Giants clinched the series with a 6-3 win away at KC White Reserve on Sunday.
Giants coach John Curnow described the final game as “a good-quality contest right the way through”.
Werribee held a slender one-run lead for most of the game thanks to a stellar performance from Trent Pantalleresco.
He pitched seven strong innings and produced an early two-run home run that gave the Giants that lead.
After breaking out last season, Pantallaresco seems to have taken his game to another level this summer.
“He performed well last year and he’s continuing on with that,” Curnow said.
“He puts everything into every pitch. He throws hard, he’s got a good slider and keeps all the hitters off balance.
“We made a couple of errors behind him, but he stood up when he had to and got hitters out for us.”
Photo Gallery: Newport Rams vs Werribee Giants
Wes DeJong was also effective in both the batters box and on the mound for Werribee.
He pitched a scoreless inning in the eighth and hit a crucial two-out single that drove in two runs to create a handy buffer.
That huge eighth inning for the Giants broke the game open.
“We got our lead-off on with a hit,” Curnow said.
“Then one of our blokes went to drop a bunt, they tried to pick him off and the throw got away, so he got around to third.
“We were able to get another two on with walks and they got two outs, then Wes came up and got the clutch hit for us.”
Closer Guillermo Salazar completed the job for Werribee in the ninth inning.
The Giants (11-1) will take on the Port Melbourne Mariners (5-7) in a three-game series before the Christmas break.
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