There has been no middle ground for the Werribee Giants in the past fortnight.
The worst and the best has been on show in totally contrasting performances in Baseball Victoria summer league division 2, one resulting in an 18-run loss and the other an 18-run win.
The Giants were clearly smarting from their 18-0 disaster against Berwick City when they took out their frustrations on a hapless Ballarat City 20-2 at President’s Park on Saturday.
Giants catcher Oliver Box was pleased to see an offensive lift from his team.
“It’s always nice to win, even more so when you put up 20 runs,” he said.
“There would’ve been about 12 or 13 hits, so it was a big contrast to the week before.
“Our batters were a lot more patient, we took what was given to us, didn’t go out chasing too much. We got walked a lot and our hitting was good, but we really took what was given to us.”
Josh Lee was Werribee’s most consistent batter on the day with a multi-hit game, but it was import Dustin Biell who provided the highlight.
Biell skied a ball to right field for a seemingly routine catch, but the outfielder could not lock the ball in his glove.
So Biell used his speed on the bases for a rare inside the park home run.
“That was a bit cheeky,” Box said. “He should’ve been caught but he got a home run out of it. Dustin being so quick, he got all the way around.”
Biell has made an immediate impression on his teammates since arriving from the US.
“He’s awesome – he’s fitted in perfect,” Box said. “Everyone loves him; he’s helping out everyone as well.”
Werribee needed only two pitchers with the game called off after six innings due to the mercy rule.
Veteran John Curnow went four innings without giving up a run before teenager
Connor Wilson gave up two runs in two innings, gaining valuable experience in the process.
“He’s the crowd favourite, the team favourite and has been for a few years,” said Box of Curnow. “He just keeps getting the job done.”
Werribee will travel to Mulgrave for the fifth round on Saturday, hoping to keep its .500 record intact.
After alternating results in the opening four rounds, the Giants will be looking to string together consecutive victories for the first time this season.
“Hopefully we can get a bit of consistency, especially offensively, and stay up instead of going up and down when we see different quality pitching,” Box said. “They came up from division 3 last year, so we don’t know too much about them. We’ll have to again be on our toes.”
