Significant notes from Round 11
Bite’s Chris Adamson is on an eight game hitting streak (12 – 34)
By Dan Vaughan/Heat
- Matt Williams is 15-for-15 in save chances and saved three straight games in the series sweep of Melbourne. Williams took over the ABL record book with his thirteenth save on Friday breaking the record set in 2010-11 by teammate Dae-Sung-Koo.
- Boss Moanaroa had five RBIs in three games during the round.
- Mitch Dening became the first player in Sydney history with 100 career hits. Dening has 48 this season, 27 in 2010-11 and 26 in 2011-12.
- Sydney’s Chris Oxspring broke the single season strikeout record of 71 finishing the round with 75. Oxspring broke his own record set in 2010-11.
- Sydney has allowed 79 walks as the only club with less than 100. Perth is second with 117 free passes as a staff.
- Current Oakland Athletics pitcher Travis Blackley worked 1.1 inning of relief for Melbourne on Friday night during the round.
- Adelaide’s Chris Adamson has an eight game hitting streak going 12-for-34 at a .353 clip.
- Since being used as a reliever in the last three series openers, Dushan Ruzic has not allowed an earned run in three appearances. As a starter during that three game stretch he has worked sixteen innings allowing seven earned runs for a 3.94 ERA and a 1-0 record.
- Brisbane’s five complete games leads the ABL with three teams all tied for second place with two a peice.
- Brisbane Bandits veteran Chuck Lofgren allowed seven earned runs in Sydney on November 30th in round five. Since then Lofgren has not allowed more than two earned runs and has a 1.85 ERA in six starts to a total of eight earned runs in 39 innings.
- Brisbane’s C.J. Beatty went 6-for-11 with three home runs and eight RBIs for the series against Canberra.
- The Heat drew 1,914 spectators for Saturday’s game. Perth drew 5,795 spectators for the four game series with an average of 1,449 per game.
- Sydney drew 4,764 spectators for an average of 1,191 for the round.
- Brisbane drew 2,183 fans for three gate openings for an average of 728 spectators.
- Tim Kennelly returned after nearly two months away and had two multi-hit games in the series against Adelaide.
- Carter Bell since going 0-5 on December 28 has gone 20-for-40 (.500) for an eleven game hitting streak. Bell has scored eleven runs with one home run and eleven RBIs in the eleven games. That also coincides with the arrival of Ryan Khoury which moved Bell from short stop to second base.
- Perth’s Brenden Webb drove in six runs in the series against Adelaide.
- Anthony Claggett averages 6.1 innings per outing working at least five innings in all of his starts. Claggett has a 2.97 ERA in his last three appearances.
- Heat reliever Jack Frawley has 16 k’s in 14.1 innings.
They said it
“I felt OK. Obviously it wasn’t the best of outings but it wasn’t terrible either. To get out there for the first time in a couple of years and be competitive, I can’t ask for anything more.” – Sean Tracey on his ABL debut.
“I’ve had about seven weeks off but its good to be back. We’ve gone through a bit of a rough patch in the last few weeks but we have a lot of belief in ourselves so we’re not going to roll over or anything like that.” – Tim Kennelly on getting back into the groove.
“We won last week at home and ended up 4-4 in two tough series’ with Sydney. We’ve been playing well, I just think we’re playing good baseball at the moment and I hope we continue it.” – Adelaide manager Tony Harris on the playoff hunt.
“It’s getting tight now. There’s five teams right in it and only we can control our destiny, so we’re looking forward to getting on the plane and heading over to Brisbane.” – Steve Fish on the series in Brisbane.
Click here for Dan’s excellent wrap up of the ABL as 5 teams battle for a play off spot
Good to see Tank getting some hits !!