Werribee Giants went from error-riddled to error-free in the space of seven days and the results for the young team turned with it.
The Giants bounced back in a runaway 8-1 win over Bonbeach on the road in the Baseball Victoria summer league division 2 on Sunday, going some way to easing the pain of a nine-error opening day shocker a week earlier.
“Last week might have been an aberration,” Giants coach Phil Balzer said. “We made nine errors and weren’t really dominant in any area of the game.
“This week we made no errors.”
The Giants made all their noise in a six-run ninth inning blitz.
They were able to capitalise on base runners after continually leaving them stranded in the opening eight innings.
“We didn’t hit as well as we could have – we left about 10 runners on base,” Balzer said.
“We should’ve been six or seven up going into the last inning, but we just didn’t convert our opportunities.
“In the last inning, it all came through for us.”
Simon Riches typified the hard work ethic of the Giants’ batters.
The No. 9 batter, considered a fringe player, reached base five times, drawing three walks and hitting twice.
“They couldn’t get him out,” Balzer said. “He was pivotal for us. He came up into the ones and did an outstanding job. Now it’s going to be hard to drop him.”
Wade Balzer was outstanding, hitting two doubles and doing a stellar job at shortstop.
Jonathan Lowe and Todd Kriehn were solid contributors.
The pitching was much better for the Giants this week.
Young starter Wes De Jong was in command from the outset and made it through five innings despite being on a pitch count.
He conceded just one run.
“A real quality start for him, much better than the week before,” Balzer said.
“He settled in early and got his first pitch strikes over, which gave him a chance to go a bit deeper in the game.
“Getting a fifth inning out of him was a bonus.”
Import Chad Northcott kept the Bonbeach batters on a tight leash in the final four inning.
