Sunshine Eagles have made it the perfect 10 to start the Baseball Victoria summer league premier 1 first nine competition.
After close midweek win against Upwey FTG, the Eagles were at home on Saturday afternoon against the Williamstown Wolves, a rematch of last season’s grand final.
It would be the same result with an Eagles win, but the ladder leaders didn’t have it all their own way this time round.
Eagles’ coach Stuart Clayton said for a while it didn’t look like they would get on the mound.
The seconds earlier had their game called off after heavy rain in the lead up to the game.
“It was a big day for the club,” he said. “With all the rain we weren’t sure that we could get a game in.
“We spent a couple of hours on the ground beforehand to get a game up and going.”
While the scoreboard will show a 16-2 win to the Eagles, Clayton said it felt a lot closer than that.
He said they were pushed early on by the Wolves.
“It was pretty right early and they pitched really well,” he said.
“Their import struck out our first three batters. We made a couple of adjustments and got a couple of hits and got him off his game.
“It blew out in the end.”
Eagles import Aidan Duda got his first home run in the win, proving to be one of the highlights of the day.
As well as the grand final rematch on Saturday, the Eagles officially opened their new indoor tunnel.
Clayton said it meant they had 24-7 access to a facility where they could train.
After the strong start they’ve had, the Eagles are just focused on playing each game as it come.
“We will eventually lose a game,” Clayton said.
“We’ve been playing some really good baseball and everyone is enjoying being around each other.
“We have a tough one against Malvern at Malvern on Tuesday night and they will have their Melbourne Aces players available.
“It will be a big challenge and then we have Melbourne at Melbourne on Saturday who have a few Aces players as well.”
The Eagles are set for a boost as well this week, with Melbourne Aces and Australian player Darryl George set to play his first game for the season.
“He fractured his hand before the season started,” Clayton said. “He has been back training and will hopefully play on Tuesday.
“He’s been training with the boys. If you’ve ever met Darryl he always has a smile on the his face and brings a good spark to the club.”
Meanwhile in the women’s regional north-west competition, it was mixed results for the Eagles teams.
Sunshine Blue had a 15-4 win against Essendon, while Sunshine White lost to Fitzroy, 18-2.
Sunshine Blue sits third on the ladder and Sunshine White is 10th.
