The Perth Heat and Sydney Blue Sox have swept aside their opponents to take commanding leads at the top of the Australian Baseball League standings.
The dominant weekends sets up an intriguing battle for home ground advantage in the semi-finals as round nine of competition wrapped up on Sunday.
Tied with the Blue Sox at the top of the ladder on Saturday, Perth claimed outright first on Sunday in emphatic fashion by hammering the Melbourne Aces 12-2 in just seven innings after the mercy rule was brought into play, giving the Heat their eighth consecutive victory and their 22nd win of the season.
The Heat outscored the Aces 56-25 over the four games, winning 13-9, 15-6, 16-8 and 12-2, while belting 18 pitches over the home run fence in an awesome offensive display.
Perth were led at the plate in game four by centre fielder Ronnie Welty and second baseman and Minnesota Twins infielder Luke Hughes, who each connected on three hits including one home run.
The Heat’s pitching rotation backed up their batters admirably, with Cameron Lamb, Cole McCurry, Ben Moore and Matt Zachary all earning wins.
Just one win behind Perth in the standings are the Sydney Blue Sox, who swept the Adelaide Bite 4-0 at home, winning each of their first three games by just a single run before wrapping up the final match 6-2.
Sydney had entered the series against the then top-of-the-table Adelaide under a cloud after losing all four games at home to the Heat the week before.
But they snapped their losing streak in game one thanks to a ninth innings’ RBI single to centre fielder Trent Schmutter which gave his team a much needed 5-4 victory.
The Blue Sox maintained their composure under pressure in game two and three by winning by the barest of margins, 4-3 and 6-5, before a four-run fifth innings in game four helped them to a healthier winning margin.
The second-placed Blue Sox are three wins ahead of the third-placed Adelaide Bite with just one regular season round to play.
The Brisbane Bandits series against the Canberra Cavalry series was postponed due to flooding in south-east Queensland.
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