MAESTRI DAZZLES IN BANDITS SERIES OPENING WIN
Brisbane defeats Canberra 6-0 on Thursday night
Led by two home runs from Brad Dutton and a two-hit complete game by Alex Maestri, the Brisbane Bandits beat the Canberra ‘UberGlobal’ Cavalry 6-1 Thursday night at the RNA Showgrounds in Round 8 of Australian Baseball League action.
The hometown team got out to an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first courtesy of a Brad Dutton’s first home run of the night. The opposite field solo shot was just his second homer of the year. The second baseman’s second long ball led off the seventh inning, giving him the first multi-homer game for a Bandit this season.
Brisbane added to the lead again in the second inning, first with a bases-loaded groundout RBI for Mitch Nilsson, and again with an Andrew Campbell RBI-single, bringing the Bandits up 3-0.
The Cavalry couldn’t stop the bleeding in the third as the Bandits added another two runs. David Sutherland notched his 17th RBI on the year, tying him for the team lead with Josh Roberts, with a single. That knocked Canberra starter Mike McGuire out of the game, though Brian Grening didn’t fare much better in relief. Rory Rhodes added another one to the Bandits total with his third double of the year, giving Brisbane a 5-0 advantage.
McGuire went two innings plus three batters, giving up five earned runs on four hits with four walks and two strikeouts. Grening finished out the third, completing one frame, allowing just one hit. In total, the Cavalry needed five pitchers to get through the game, none going more than two innings.
Maestri came just one out from a complete-game shutout, when a dropped fly ball to left brought around a run for Canberra. Trying to stretch it around to third, Travis Scott was thrown out to end the game. The Italian right-hander went the full nine innings, giving up one run (unearned), on two hits with four walks and four strikeouts.