Werribee Giants are starting to exude a maturity beyond their years in Baseball Victoria’s summer league division 2.
It was the Giants, not their more seasoned St Kilda opponents, who made all the big defensive plays at the big moments to prevail 2-1 in an arm-wrestle at Presidents Park on Sunday.
This young Giants outfit is a stark contrast to the one that endured an embarrassing error-filled outing back in the season opener.
The Giants have won three of the past four matches to sit fifth on the ladder.
“They’re a pretty experienced team with a few Americans in their line-up,” Giants coach Phil Balzer said of St Kilda.
“In a low-scoring game, we made some outstanding plays.
“Again, without making [a lot of] errors, we win.”
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It was a game dominated by quality pitching.
For the Giants, Wes De Jong elevated his pitch count, lasting seven innings for the concession of the Saints’ one and only run.
“We’re building him up for national championships in January, so he’s gone from 60 pitches in his first outing and progressively gone up to 83,” Balzer said.
“He’s allowed to pitch 100, but we’re just hoping to keep him in peak condition for the national championships.
“He pitched really well, giving up just the one run. Only the one strike out, but he threw a lot of low pitches which enabled us to get ground balls, and we turned about four double plays.”
Import Chad Northcott closed the game for the Giants, picking up the last six outs. Northcott’s performance was top shelf, whether at relief or second base or in the batters box.
“He was absolutely brilliant in the field,” Balzer said. “Then he came on and pitched the last two innings and got the six batters he faced out.
“He did a great job for us.”
The Giants struggled at times in their at-bats against the Saints’ pitching.
Matthew Howe bucked the trend with two hits to go with a superb outing on third base.
“He made a number of good plays and was our leading hitter for the game,” Balzer said.
The Giants (3-2) have a blockbuster away trip to Springvale (4-2) on Sunday.
