Werribee Giants coach Phil Balzer has declared “we can beat anyone” in the Baseball Victoria summer league division 2 finals.
The Giants have the form to back up his comments, having beaten finalists Springvale and Moorabbin in the regular season and only losing to Williamstown by a single run in each of their two competitive games.
So could the Giants be the dark horse from the bottom half of the four?
“We’ve absolutely got the talent to do it and we’ve got the depth to do it,” Balzer said. “Obviously, the key is to win that first game in the finals. I’m very excited for it and the players are buzzing for it, too.”
The Giants will play a best-of-three semi-finals series against Springvale, starting at the Melbourne Ball Park tonight.
The series will move to Werribee on Saturday and then to Springvale on Sunday if a third game is required.
Usually the top-ranked club gets the chance to play game two on home turf, but Springvale’s home ground, KH Wearne Reserve, is unavailable on that day – a huge advantage for the Giants if they can snatch game one.
The Giants hammered Springvale 10-2 on Saturday at Presidents Park in the last round.
But Balzer is cautious about what that result means.
The visitors were severely short-handed and had two teenagers on the mound.
One of those teens was Matthew Stenhouse, the younger brother of Brandon, who has recently signed a minor league contract with the New York Yankees.
But the Giants’ roster was also far from complete.
With finals secured, pitchers Wes De Jong and Wade Balzer rested, giving Jonathan Lowe, Jason Kreihn, Daine Gregory and import Chad Northcott a chance to get some valuable innings under their belts in case they are called on in the next fortnight.
The Giants also got plenty of quality at-bats, with Oliver Box and Matthew Howe catching fire on the eve of the finals.
“You can’t take too much out of the game other than we got some good at-bats and got some work into our pitchers,” Balzer said.
“It was all about trying to get guys some innings in, just in case they’re required in the finals.
“Today was almost like a live practice session for both sides.”
