Adelaide Giants manager Chris Adamson ready for Australian Baseball League Championship Series against Melbourne Aces
Manager Chris Adamson has challenged his Adelaide Giants players to soak up the occasion, as the club bids to end SA’s four-decade title drought in this weekend’s Australian Baseball League Championship Series.
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Adelaide Giants manager Chris Adamson has a simple message for his players as they begin their build-up to this weekend’s Australian Baseball League Championship Series:
“Enjoy the hell out of it.”
It moved the minor premier into a best-of-three match meeting with Melbourne Aces, which kicks off at Melbourne Ballpark on Friday night and returns to West Beach the next day.
The success also put the Giants within touching distance of the club’s breakthrough ABL title and the state’s maiden national baseball championship since 1980.
“I’m not going to shy away from it,” said Adamson, in his third campaign as mentor.
“We’ve worked really hard, not only this year, but over the last few years, so these guys deserve to really soak the week in.
“There’s people who have been around the game for decades who don’t get a chance to experience these feelings.
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“Hopefully the guys ... appreciate that we’re not only representing ourselves when we go out on that field, we’re representing everyone who’s come before us.
“But for me, it’s ‘enjoy the hell out of it, don’t be overwhelmed by it and then come game-time, let’s just go play’.”
Adelaide, which finished the regular season with a commanding 26-14 record, lost 6-7 to Canberra in a 10-inning clash played out in 41C heat in the capital on Friday night.
But the Giants bounced back with a 5-2 home triumph 24 hours later, before a 6-3 victory in a nailbiting game-three fired them to the finale.
It needed an heroic effort from US import Ryan Chaffee, pitching for the third-straight day, to close out the win on the mound, a team-first contribution not lost on Adamson.
“He was an absolute warrior,” said Adamson of Chaffee, who recorded six strikeouts from three-and-a-third innings pitched.
“He came into the game yesterday (Sunday) when it needed saving and ... made sure we got out of that.
“I was proud of the way the whole team competed all weekend and believed in the group first.
“As soon as we left the locker room on Friday night, they regrouped really well and we knew we were coming back home where we’ve had some success.
“The amount of self-belief in this group is unbelievably impressive.”
The Giants had a recovery session at parent club Adelaide Crows’ West Lakes headquarters on Monday and will hit the practice field on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Adelaide will depart on Thursday for its opener against the Aces, which it downed 3-1 in a regular season series in December but lost to by the same margin in Victoria last month.
“Nothing will really change on our end,” said Adamson, the ABL’s youngest boss at 31.
“There’s a little bit more work done on the opposition from our standpoint as coaches and support staff.
“But really the players, we’ll just get them ready so come Friday they’re feeling good about themselves and are ready to roll.”