The Perth Heat have won the championship in the inaugural season of the Australian Baseball League. They defeated the Adelaide Bite 7-1 in the decisive game three of the final series on Sunday to clinch the title. Starting pitcher Benjamin Moore led the way, allowing just one run on four hits in nine impressive innings. He struck out ten batters in the complete game.
The Perth offense provided him with a nice 3-0 cushion in the fifth frame, when Mitchell Graham broke the scoreless tie with a two-run double and later scored on a RBI single by Tim Kennelly. Four runs in the eighth, two on a homerun by Robbie Widlansky sealed the deal. The Bite only got on the board in the ninth thanks to a solo homerun by Stefan Welch.
Paul Mildren gave up five hits, three runs and two walks in 4 2/3 innings, taking the loss. Afterwards Rimini’s new pitcher Dushan Ruzic kept Adelaide in the game, tossing 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief. But in the end it didn’t matter, as Moore didn’t take his foot from the pedal and led the Heat to the ABL Championship.
Results ABL Finals:
Game 1, Friday, February 11:
Bite 001 030 000 4 11 1 Heat 100 002 000 3 14 0
Game 2, Saturday, February 12:
Heat 000 080 010 9 13 0 Bite 001 000 010 2 7 1
Game 3, Sunday, February 13:
Bite 000 000 001 1 4 0 Heat 000 030 04X 7 8 1
More Info on the Official Website of the Australian Baseball League