Braves gain revenge for baseball loss

ILLAWARRA BASEBALL LEAGUE

FRANK BOOTH

KIAMA scored their second win of the 2007 Illawarra Baseball League season with a 7-5 win over Bulli at Dalton Park in round 13.

The Pirates went down 7-5 with four of the visitors' runs coming off Bulli errors.

Saturday's clash came six days after Kiama sustained a 4-3 loss against the same opponent in a deferred match on Sunday week.

On earned runs scored against the pitching the Pirates outscored the Braves 5-3.

Bulli took an early lead with a run scored following Corey Hayman's double before each team scored one run in the third.

Kiama took the lead 3-2 in the fifth and scored a further three in the seventh innings to lead 6-2.

Bulli rallied with three runs in the eighth but failed to catch Kiama, who scored a further run in the ninth inning.

Ben Gibson pitched 6.1 innings for Pirates, allowing two earned runs on eight hits and reliever Brendan Lower allowed one earned run on two hits.

Braves pitcher Brendan Armstrong pitched a complete game, allowing five earned runs on seven hits.

Stuart Masters, Adrian Clarke and Brett Single all batted 2 from 5 with 2 RBI's for Braves and Pirates hitting was shared through the lineup.

The Braves outhit the home team 10-7 and the four Pirates errors resulted in as many unearned runs for the Braves.

Meanwhile, Berkeley Eagles and Dapto Chiefs produced another classic battle, with the Eagles winning 9-7 after being down 4-nil early.

Dapto scored two runs in the first inning before adding two more in the third.

Berkeley's comeback started in the bottom of the third with two runs.

The Eagles tied the game in the fourth and claimed the lead 5-4 in the fifth when Thompson scored on Chad Blanch's sacrifice fly.

Dapto reclaimed the lead briefly in the sixth but Berkeley replied with two runs.

In the final inning the Chiefs levelled the scores at 7-all but were unable to shutout the home team who added two runs for the 9-7 score.

The Chiefs registered 10 hits, Stuart McCarthy having a game best 3 from 4, with support from Mitchell Thompson and Troy Green with two each.

Berkeley tallied 13 hits with the honours shared by Ward, Thompson, Mills and Kuit with two each.

Josh Doyle pitched six innings for Eagles, allowing nine hits and four earned runs and Tim Inglis pitched six innings for Chiefs, allowing thirteen hits and seven earned runs.

In round 14 Berkeley play Bulli at Fred Finch Park and Kiama hosts Wests Cardinals at Gainsborough Reserve, Kiama Downs.