Melbourne Winter Baseball League: North Balwyn v Research and Forest Hill v Waverley

North Balwyn snuffed out Research’s finals hopes with an impressive 11-6 win in their Melbourne Winter Baseball League A Grade clash at Glenauburn Park on Saturday

Jordy Young impressed for North Balwyn this week. Picture: Chris Eastman

North Balwyn snuffed out Research’s finals hopes with an impressive 11-6 win in their Melbourne Winter Baseball League A Grade clash at Glenauburn Park on Saturday

Kelly Zeblin was dominant from the mound, keeping the Research bats quiet all day while North Balwyn coach Phil Dale said it was a solid win for his team.

“Kelly was really good today, and offensively as well and Jamie Young came on to relieve and he was good with the bat also,” he said.

The Stingers boss said Darryl George, Chris Burke and Jordy Young were also impressive with the bat.

North Balwyn will have a tough test next week hosting a Forest Hill outfit fresh from an impressive win over Waverley. Dale, however, said he was happy with how his team was looking with the finals looming.

“We just need to keep winning,” he said.

Research coach Steve Bookluck said the pitching of Zeblin was the difference on the day.

“He killed us today, he was really, really good,” Bookluck said.

“They also led off with a home run and we made errors, then they got another home run. We didn’t really hit well until the last inning. Travis Murphy was good for us today with a home run too.”

Bookluck said finals now looked unlikely for Research.

“We were hanging in there but it’s game over now I think,” he said.

Bryce Taylor was good on the mound for Forest Hill on Saturday Picture: Hamish Blair

FOREST HILL TIGHTENS GRIP ON A FINALS BERTH

Second-placed Forest Hill scored an impressive win over third-placed Waverley in their Melbourne Winter Baseball League A Grade clash on Saturday.

Scores were tight for most of the match, with the score only blowing out in the last inning to give Forest Hill an 8-3 win. Coach Adam Blackley said, while they were all friends off the field, it was a different story once the white line was crossed.

“It was a good win, but there’s a bit of a rivalry there for sure,” he said. “It was a tight match but it blew out in the last innings.”

Blackley said the win should guarantee his team a finals berth, and that it was now looking at a top two finish to secure a double chance.

“We are looking good now. Bryce Taylor our starting pitcher was very good again today,” he said. “He pitched seven innings and did really well. He started off a bit nervy but settled and gave them no chance after that. Jordan Ley also had three hits, actually we all hit the ball really hard today.”

Waverley coach Donovan Hendricks said scores were tight for most of the day and that the final scoreline didn’t really reflect the sort of match it was.

“It was a pitchers duel for most of the day,” he said. “They were able to capitalise on their chances though.”

Hendricks said Jarrod Turner was once again outstanding on the mound for Waverley, despite the loss: “He pitched six innings. He’s our ace and certainly our most important player”.

The Waverley boss said, with games coming up against Greensborough and Watsonia, he was hoping to win both to make finals a certainty.

“We play Ringwood who are on top in the last round and we don’t want to leave things until then to get the job done,” he said.