The Canberra Cavalry fought off second-place Brisbane Bandits this weekend to keep a one-game lead in the Australian Baseball League standings. Both teams won two apiece in the series. Germany’s Donald Lutz hit a solo home run on Friday and a grand slam on Saturday to show off his first pieces of his power since returning to the ABL. He is now batting .250/.288/.446 with two home runs, five doubles, six runs scored and 11 RBI in 14 games for Brisbane.
The Sydney Blue Sox won three of four against the Melbourne Aces to cut the deficit to 1.5 games. The lone loss of the series came on Sunday, as German right-hander Jan-Niclas Stoecklin conceded five hits, seven runs and four walks in three-plus innings. It was his worst outing of his ABL stint and his second loss as his ERA jumped to 4.34. Loek van Mil’s Adelaide Bite won three of four against the Perth Heat. They are 2.5 games behind Canberra in the standings. The Dutch reliever issued two hits, a walk and no runs in two innings during his lone appearance this weekend on Saturday.
Standings:
| Club | W | L | PCT▼ | GB | Home | Away | L 10 | Streak | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canberra Cavalry | 21 | 15 | .583 | – | 13-7 | 8-8 | 4-6 | W1 | |
| Brisbane Bandits | 20 | 16 | .556 | 1.0 | 12-4 | 8-12 | 6-4 | L1 | |
| Sydney Blue Sox | 19 | 16 | .543 | 1.5 | 13-6 | 6-10 | 8-2 | W1 | |
| Adelaide Bite | 18 | 17 | .514 | 2.5 | 11-5 | 7-12 | 6-4 | W3 | |
| Perth Heat | 16 | 20 | .444 | 5.0 | 7-9 | 9-11 | 2-8 | L3 | |
| Melbourne Aces | 13 | 23 | .361 | 8.0 | 8-12 | 5-11 | 4-6 | L1 |