Australian Baseball League: Brisbane with first loss, still improves to 6-1 after Round 2

With an 11-6 loss to the Perth Heat on Sunday the Brisbane Bandits undefeated streak to open the 2017/2018 season in the Australian Baseball League ended in the seventh game of the year. A six-run first and 11 runs in the first four innings helped Perth to secure the win.

In the loss Mitch Nilsson, who had been playing for the Heidenheim Heidekoepfe this past summer, hit his third home run in three games this weekend. He drove in 12 runs in the series against the Heat. His Heidenheim teammate Justin Erasmus got hit hard on the mound on Sunday, allowing eight runs on eight hits in just two innings. Germany’s Donald Lutz, who hit his first two home runs of the season on Thursday and Friday went 4-for-18 in the series with seven RBI.

Another Heidekoepfe player, Clayton Freimuth, improved to 2-0 for the season by pitching 6 2/3 strong innings on Saturday for the Sydney Blue Sox. He issued just two hits, a run and five walks. His German national teammate Sven Schueller, a minor leaguer in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization, took the loss on Thursday and then gave up two runs on three hits in an inning in Sydney’s 7-15 loss to the Canberra Cavalry on Sunday. The Blue Sox just won one of four against the Cavalry, but remain in second place in the standings with a 5-3 record.

The Melbourne Aces won three of four against the Adelaide Bite in the third series in the ABL this weekend. Dutch catcher Bas Nooij went 1-for-8 with a walk and a RBI in three appearances for Adelaide this weekend. Loek van Mil came in for the first time for the Bite out off the bullpen on Saturday, pitching a scoreless inning, conceding one hit, while striking out one.