The Greater Western Warriors were able to take away two wins against last summer’s Club Champions in a wet round three of the NSW State Baseball League at Chapman Gardens in Kingswood this weekend, 22-23 October.
Playing at home for the first time this season, the local grade teams were able to back-up last week’s opening round results, this time against Baulkham Hills, and remain undefeated in the second and third grade competitions, whilst first grade game was washed out before classifying for a result on Sunday.
“A great start to our first home stand at our new home of Chapman gardens,” said Greater Western’s Head Coach, Jarryd Manuel, “great victories in twos and threes, with U18’s and ones working hard to get their first victories of the season”.
“Chapman Gardens has had a lot of work put into them for this season, which includes a brand-new amenity complex, perfect for this level competition, and the way the fields held up against the recent weather is credit to the work of the grounds crew from Mackillop Baseball Club.”
Sunday morning kicked off with a grand final rematch in third grade, where the defending Champions stormed home to take the win in their final offensive inning, scoring seven runs to Baulkham Hills’ two, before the rain stopped the game with around 30 minutes remaining.
“Third grade showed discipline at the plate with nine walks and only three hits, but they made the most of runners on base with a big inning in the fourth,” said Manuel, “Daniel Schroot scored two to get us in front, then singles by Pat Dawes and Nathan Manuel with runners on base pushed the score out to a five-run lead for the win”.
Following a short rain delayed start, the second grade Warriors jumped to a four-run lead in the second inning, including a two-run-triple by Jaxon Nash, but were forced to defend their lead at the end of the game, holding out a late offensive charge to win five runs to four for their second win in two games played.
“The Second-Grade game saw a lot more hits for us, led by Craig Willis who had two hits from his two at bats in the lead-off position, and six of the starting nine all getting hits,” said Manuel.
After the midweek first grade game between the two teams allowed only one run over the seven innings played, the Sunday game of the round failed to reach the minimum number of innings to classify a result.
Saturday’s results didn’t go as planned for the Warriors, with the Under 18s not able to contain the hitting of Baulkham Hills, although still managing six hits of their own, with two for Hayden Jenkins and doubles for Jaxon Nash, Cayden Nash and Nikhalesh Chowdhury.
The Greater Western Warriors will play host next weekend to Canterbury-Vikings, with first grade playing at Blacktown International Sportspark (Diamond 1) on Wednesday night, 26th October, and all other games at Chapman Gardens in Kingswood, starting with Under 18s from 2pm on Saturday, Third Grade from 9:30am on Sunday, followed by Second Grade at midday and First Grade at 2:30pm.
“We have all of our Warriors at home over the weekend, so it would be great to see some more supporters come down and enjoy a great couple of days of baseball.”