BASEBALL made a return to the Friday night time slot at Blue Lake Sports Park last week with Centrals victorious over an in-form South Indians.
Centrals drew first blood with a run crossing home plate in the first innings.
The second inning followed suit when Centrals again scored a run to make it a two-run lead after two bats.
The game was slowly escaping South as Centrals crossed two more in the third for a four-run lead.
However, South found another gear and bought home three runs to make a game of it.
After five innings the game was all tied up after South bought another two runs home, with an entertaining clash unfolding for the crowd.
A pitching change saw Ethan Chuck replaced on the mound for Centrals by his number-one cousin Dylan Chuck and it was a move that did not favour the Indians.
The runs dried up as Chuck kept the Indians run-less while the boys in Black and White piled on six more over the last three innings to make it an 11-5 ball game.
Big performances came from Kylle Mclean, Dylan Chuck and Nathan Meinck with three hits each, while for South it was Damien O’Dine who returned with a bang for the Indians with two hits and club champion Dean Hamilton pitched well on the mound.
Meanwhile, Saturday afternoon Millicent/Federals traveled to Blue Lake Sports Park to take on a Tigers outfit looking to bounce back to form.
A bumper crowd led by David Chant in full voice saw Tigers start slowly and appear flat.
Millicent took full advantage of some sloppy fielding and struck first.
Ellis Cushion started his first Division 1 game on the mound for the visitors and he looked comfortable and in control.
A pitching duel was taking place and after the fourth innings it was still the Bandits by a single run.
Tigers eventually found their mojo in the fifth inning and scored a quick-fire three runs to claim the lead.
But that was just the beginning for Tigers as they again scored three runs in the sixth inning and the lead was suddenly five.
Cushion was replaced on the mound by Jack Hateley in the seventh inning which Tigers appeared to enjoy as they knocked in four more runs to take the game to a nine run margin and show some real fight and class with the bat.
When the Tigers’ lead reached 10 runs plate umpire Meinck call game.
Big performances for the game for Tigers saw Tyler Horrigan with two hits and four RBI’s, while Hayden Jones and Brayden Morton also chalked up two hits.
For Millicent/Federals it was Roy Hutchinnson, Craig Chittelborough and Cushion who lead from the front.
