Thursday, 6 December 2007

Australia Green and the NZ Black Sox both remained undefeated after the first day of play at the Pacific International Men's Series in Canberra.

In the opening game of the tournament, the NZ Black Sox were far too good for Japan, jumping out of the blocks with four runs in the bottom of the first, and holding this advantage throughout to eventually win 7-1.

The second match saw the two Australian teams line up against each other, with Australia Green getting all over the top of David Metekingi early to score four runs in the top of the first, before ACT Under 19 Squad pitcher Brad Riley relieved Metekingi.

Australia Gold responded with two runs of their own in the bottom of the first, thanks largely to a home run from Aaron Cockman. Riley pitched a creditable game for the Gold team, but eventually the Green team batters got on top of him, adding two runs in the third. With Kris Kiefel and ACT’s Andrew Kirkpatrick shutting down the Gold team's batters after the first innings, Australia Green went on to a comfortable win, 7-2.

The third match was the match of the day, with Australia Green coming from behind to beat Japan 2-1. Andrew Kirkpatrick was the standout player of the game, after having a run taken off his pitching in the first innings, he shut down the Japan batters there after with 16 K2's. Trailing 1-0 for much of the game, the Green team made the most of their opportunities in the bottom of the sixth, when, with two runners on base, that man Kirkpatrick stepped up and smashed a double to the outfield to score two runs and give them the lead. The Green team held Japan in the top of the 7th to take a vital win.

In the final match of the day, NZ defeated Australia Gold 8-0 in five innings, to jump to the top of the ladder. Today's first match sees the top two teams, NZ and Australia Green, face off for the first time.

The schedule for today's matches are as follows:
1.30pm   New Zealand v Australia Green
3.30pm   New Zealand v Australia Gold
5.30pm   Japan v Australia Gold
7.30pm   Japan v Australia Green 

Contact: Bob Harrow 0413 276 180 Geoff Tutt 0414 230 130