A WALK-off, grand slam home run on opening night from Elliot Biddle has provided lift-off on a new Australian Baseball League season for the Melbourne Aces.
A second from the outfielder’s bat later in the weekend went some way towards dispelling the theory that home runs will be hard to come by at the Aces’ new home at the Melbourne Ballpark in Laverton.
Biddle’s clear-the-bases blast gave the Aces a historic 5-1 win over Adelaide Bite in the home opener on Friday night and they went on to win the three-game series 2-1.
The Bite returned serve in game two with a 4-0 win on Saturday evening, but the Aces hit back with a 7-2 victory on Sunday afternoon on the back of two home runs from second baseman Brad Harman.
Biddle, who packs a lot of power in his slender 71-kilogram body, will never forget opening night of the 2012-13 season.
“You couldn’t ask for a better start to the season,” Biddle told the Weekly after his Friday night heroics.
“I got it pretty sweet. I think it’s going out in any ballpark. To finish it off like that is a dream.”
The long-awaited return of national league baseball to the west finally came under dark and threatening skies on Friday night.
The fans, just over 1100 of them, came despite the heavens opening before and during play. The car park was full and drivers were forced to park on a side road and in a neighbouring paddock.
The fans made use of a shuttle bus from Laverton railway station and all was in readiness for a big night.
There was a glitch with the sound system, but the Hangar were on hand to sing the national anthem, which served as a warm-up for a vocal crowd on opening night.
With the SEN call team of Ed Wyatt and Craig Kernick in position, Aces general manager Windsor Knox putting the CB radio down for a brief moment and the cheerleaders revving up the crowd with Maverick the mascot, only one more thing was needed to usher in the new era of Aces baseball and that was home plate umpire Greg Howard declaring the season open with a yell of “play ball”.
The rain-interrupted opening game was a pitcher’s duel between Aces No.1 Adam Bright and Bite ace Dushan Ruzic.
Scores were locked at 1-1 heading into the ninth and with the Bite threatening with two runners on base, Aces reliever John Hussey survived to pick up the win.
It paved the way for the piece de resistance, a rocket of a shot with bases loaded from Biddle to clear the left field fence and set off the fireworks to light up the night sky.
In game two, the rot set in early for the Aces, with starter Hirotaka Koishi taken out of the game after he conceded three runs in three innings in the four-run loss.
In game three, the Aces produced their best performance of the weekend, scoring three runs in each of the fourth and fifth innings to win by five.
Harman, a one-time major leaguer with the Philadelphia Phillies, smashed home runs in the first and fourth innings, while Biddle repeated his heroics from two days earlier to clear the fence in the fifth.
The Aces take to the air for a three-game series with the Perth Heat at Barbagello Ballpark on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
