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Being peppered with nuts and bolts from rabid crowds in Mexico goes some way to explaining the toughness of the Australian baseball team.
The Southern Thunder wear their fighting spirit as a badge of honour, but after losing 4-2 to the Los Angeles Dodgers at the SCG on Thursday night, they’re desperate to convert courage into a win against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday.
It was a strange experience for Australia to apply their craft in front of home fans in Sydney.
Even though the crowd wasn’t as big as they were hoping for, it was a vast improvement from playing in Panama and Mexico, where they usually battle away for their country.
“In the 2009 World Baseball Classic, we were beating up on Mexico and they started throwing nuts and bolts at the guys in the bullpen and we had to start running down,” said Stefan Welch, who put Australia in the lead on Thursday against the Dodgers with a third-inning sacrifice fly to right-field.
“It was awesome to be able to play here. It’s weird having Australian fans rooting for you.”
However another of Australia’s stars from Thursday, Brad Harman says the home side want to finish their series of exhibition matches with a victory against the Diamondbacks.
Australia cricket great, and former baseballer, Ian Chappell addressed the players before the match and advised them to play the ball not the man.
Harman says Australia won’t be intimidated by their Major League opposition on Friday when the game gets tight leading into the final innings.
“Guys are competitive and you don’t get to wear the Australian uniform without being compeittive,” he said.
“Every time we take the field we want to win.”
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