ADELAIDE HOLD OVER BRISBANE
Ryan Beckman pitched the final two and one-third innings for the Adelaide Bite and stranded the tying run on base in the ninth as Adelaide knocked off the Brisbane Bandits 6-5 Friday night at RNA Showgrounds.
Adelaide held a lead of 5-1 entering the bottom of the sixth thanks in part to a three-run Mathew Smith homer in the second, but the Bandits put four runs on the board between the sixth and seventh, countered by Adelaide’s one, to cut the deficit to 6-5. Brad Dutton ripped his first homer of the year in the sixth to pull Brisbane within two at the time.
The Bite’s Paul Mildren (6.0 IP/3 ER) struck out five without walking a man before turning the game over to his bullpen. Wayne Ough got the first two outs of the seventh but exited after allowing a pair of runs to score. Beckman got the final out of the seventh, worked around two hit batsmen in the eighth before a dramatic ninth. Bandits catcherAyatsugu Yamashita walked to lead off the frame and came flying around third base onBrad Dutton’s double two batters later. The relay throw from James Jones to Ben Wigmore to Josh Cakebread to Carlton Tanabe cut Yamashita down at the plate, though, and Brisbane were unable to bring Dutton home to even the game.
Bandits starter Alex Maestri (6.0 IP/5 ER) took the defeat as his ERA climbed to 3.53.
This series continues Saturday night in Brisbane with game three’s first pitch slated for 7pm.