Adelaide Giants completed a series sweep against Geelong-Korea on Sunday to enter the ABL semi-finals in red-hot form
Adelaide Giants will enter next weekend’s Australian Baseball League semi-final in red-hot form, after a come-from-behind win against Geelong-Korea on Sunday delivered them a series sweep to end the regular season.
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Adelaide Giants will assume pole position as they begin their quest for the state’s first national baseball title in 40 years on the back of another dramatic walk-off success.
The SA outfit rounded out its Australian Baseball League regular season with a come-from-behind 6-5 win over Geelong-Korea on Sunday to complete a series sweep at West Beach.
It came less than 24 hours after the Giants had secured their maiden minor premiership since 2015 and semi-final hosting rights against Canberra or Perth next weekend.
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Manager Chris Adamson said the gutsy game-four victory demonstrated his side’s character and hunger, as it rallied from 1-5 down in the sixth-inning to prevail.
“We wanted the top seed (in the playoffs) and we wanted to have home field advantage the whole way through,” said Adamson, who rested several key men for the dead rubber.
“So, to be able to solidify that this weekend was really cool.
“There’s been a lot of hard work to get to this point and have ourselves in the box seat.
“But we needed a lot of self-belief (to win game four), which was pretty special to watch.
“Some younger guys got some opportunities today and did really well.
“But to see the consistency that the guys have displayed the whole way through the season is something that I’m really ecstatic with.
“We’ll go in there (the semi-final) ready to roll and hopefully we have some success.”
The Giants guaranteed the No. 1 post-season ranking when they trounced the visitors 13-0 on Saturday night, underlined by Rixon Wingrove’s eighth-inning home run.
But they needed a Logan O’Hoppe fence-clearer and young gun Griffin Weber’s first ABL hit to level game-four.
Adelaide’s seventh walk-off win of the campaign was sealed at the death thanks to Eric Peterson’s sacrifice fly.
It left the club, which also downed Geelong 10-8 on Thursday and 12-5 on Friday, with a 26-14 record, ahead of its meeting with the winner of Tuesday’s one-off wildcard clash.
The Giants will travel to face the Heat or Cavalry in game one of the semi-final, before hosting them next Saturday and, if required, Sunday in the best-of-three series.
They will also have home-field advantage should they progress to the decider.
There they will vie for their breakthrough ABL title and first Claxton Shield since SA’s 1980 national championship triumph.
“Our supporters are really passionate and they’re kind of riding this wave with us,” said Adamson, in his third season as boss.
“The fact that we get to play a weekend series at the best time of year is really cool and we’re excited for both the team and the fans.
“My time at the helm definitely got off to a rough start, but there’s been a lot of consistency with the support we’ve had.
“I’m personally really thankful for that and I’m really happy that they get to experience so many positive times and positive emotions this year.”