Westgarth and Research in a heritage thriller

Westgarth and Research can’t be separated in both grades

By SALLY HEPPLESTON

IT WAS a close day of baseball for the Westgarth and Research baseball clubs on Sunday with both the A grade and A reserve teams drawing in round 11 of the Melbourne Winter Baseball League.

Played at Westgarth on the club’s annual heritage day, the A grade match finished with 2-2 draw, with both sides having opportunities to win. The A reserve match was four all.

The A grade game was the main attraction on an important day for the Westgarth Baseball Club, with a curtain raiser played by past legends of the Westgarth and Melbourne University baseball clubs.

Westgarth, with only three wins for the season, went in to the game as underdogs against last year’s runners-up Research, who before the match were sitting in fifth position.

Westgarth coach John Peterson said while he would have loved his team to come away with the win, he’d definitely “take the draw”.

“We both had opportunities to win, it really could have gone either way,” he said.

“But for where we are sitting this season, I’m pretty happy. They have a lot of powerful hitters.”

Research coach David Dicker praised Westgarth pitcher Brock Pawley, who pitched all nine innings, only giving up two runs, and hitting a home run as well.

“He was clearly the best player on the day,” Dicker said.

He also said their star pitcher for the year Leigh McKay was outstanding, but that his team didn’t hit as well as they have in previous weeks. He said Liam Bedford and Josh Davies were strong in the field.

Research will be looking to edge their way in to the top four next week, with a home game win over bottom placed Croydon.

“We really need to make up some ground. The first half of the season didn’t go to plan and we can’t really afford to drop any more games,” Dicker said.

Westgarth won’t get an easy time next week, facing powerhouse team Greenshills Montmorency Baseball Club, who will be looking to bounce back after two unexpected losses.

“It is not going to be a fun one for us, but we’ll do our best,” Peterson said.

In other A grade results, Heathmont defeated Greensborough 8 to 4, Knox were too good for Watsonia, 10 to 5 and Ringwood thrashed Croydon 14 to 1 and North Balwyn upset Greenshills Montmorency Baseball Club 2 to 0

thrashed Croydon 14 to 1 and North Balwyn upset Greenshills Montmorency Baseball Club 2 to 0.