The Delta Airlines ABL Championship Series between the Perth Heat and the Adelaide Bite will be played this weekend. The best-of-three set starts on Friday, as Perth is going to have home field advantage. They beat the Sydney Blue Sox two weeks ago to clinch a finals berth. The Bite had to eliminate the Melbourne Aces in round one before beating Sydney last weekend.
The Heat was third in the league with an OPS of .799 in 40 regular season games, Adelaide second with an OPS of .803. On the pitching side Perth had a team ERA of 3.79, the Bite of 3.83. Individually Minnesota Twin Luke Hughes is leading all Heat batters with a .337/.448/.616 batting line in 23 games. James McOwen was Adelaide’s best batter in the regular season, going .340/.412/.613 in 37 games. On the mound Perth’s staff was led by Daniel Schmidt, who went 6-3 with an ERA of 2.97 in ten starts. He struck out 47 batters in 60 2/3 innings, walking eleven. Brandon Maurer was 5-1 with an ERA of 3.00 in nine starts for the Bite. He had 51 Ks and twelve bb in 48 innings.
Schedule:
Friday, February 11:
4.10pm AWST Perth Heat – Adelaide Bite
Saturday, February 12:
4.10pm AWST Adelaide Bite – Perth Heat
Sunday, February 13:
12.10pm AWST Perth Heat – Adelaide Bite (if necessary)
(all games will be played in Perth)