YOU only have to sneak a peek at the Baseball Victoria summer league division 1 ladder to see the importance of Sunshine Eagles’ 7-6 win over Sandringham Royals in the midweek clash.
The standings are incredibly tight with the Eagles joining no fewer than five other teams on six wins as we move towards the middle of the season.
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The group of teams are still in touch with the top four, but they are even closer to the relegation zone.
The run-in to the Christmas break will set the tone for the remainder of the season.
“It’s so tight,” Eagles player-coach Shaun Moore told the Weekly.
“It was such an important win for us to keep up with the pack.
“We don’t want to lose too much ground.”
The Eagles sent veteran leftie Stuart Clayton to the mound for the Royals battle.
The experienced hurler sent down six quality innings to set up the win and will be considered for future midweek starts.
“He was outstanding,” Moore said.
“He doesn’t throw it hard, but he hits his spots and gets them chasing.
“He was getting a lot of ground balls for us.”
Clayton is an Eagles warhorse.
He is well respected not only at Talmage Street, but also within the wider baseball community.
There was a real need to throw the veteran into the rotation due to the heavy workload experienced by Rory Meddick and Adam Irons.
“Rory and Adam have a lot of innings under their belts, so it was good to give them a bit of a rest,” Moore said. “But Stuart deserved his spot, he’s been pitching well.”
Irons pitched two innings in relief and performed strongly.
But he was not backed up by his defence, who committed a couple of untimely errors to make for a more dramatic finish than it should have been.
The Eagles were served well in both the batters’ box and on base.
Irons and Ben Anderson both picked up two hits, but it was the superb base running of Anderson, Scott Moore and Brad Jones that gave the Eagles an edge.
“They were all stealing bases and it meant we didn’t have to sacrifice-hit,” Moore said.
“Those boys have been around for a while and have the green light to go.”
This week is huge for the Eagles.
They face fourth-placed Cheltenham — three wins above them in fourth — in back-to-back games tonight at Melbourne Ballpark and on Saturday on the road.
“If we want to be serious about making the finals, we have to at least pinch a game off Cheltenham,” Moore said.
“It’s a perfect opportunity to stand up and get a game back on them to start closing the gap.”
