Blue Sox sweep Bandits in ABL

Sydney Blue Sox have swept the Brisbane Bandits in four games in the Australian Baseball League, allowing Perth Heat to move into outright second on the competition ladder.

Hosting the Bandits (12-12) for four games, the Blue Sox (11-11) were led to a series sweep by a string of strong pitching performances.

In the series opener, Alex Balog (4-1, 0.83) struck out a season-high 10 batters as Sydney won 5-1.

Michael Quesada drove in three runs and Wayne Lundgren (1-4, 2.34) earned his first win of the season as the Blue Sox took game two 8-5. Left-hander Craig Anderson (2-1, 4.15) led the way in the third game of the series, tossing 6-1/3 strong innings in a 5-1 win.

German right-hander Jan Stoecklin dominated in the series finale, which Sydney won 6-2 to sweep the series.

At home in the nation's capital, ladder leaders Canberra (16-8) beat the Adelaide Bite 3-1 in four games.

The Bite (9-13) won the first game of the series 12-4 but the Cavalry charged back, winning the next three games to take the series.

Canberra came out swinging again in the series finale, winning 12-7 behind the bat of catcher Ryan Miller, who went 3-for-5 with four RBIs in the game.

In Melbourne, the Heat (12-11) and the Aces (9-14) saw a back-and-forth affair.

Melbourne rookie Jack Barrie became the first ABL player to homer for two different teams in the same season in the series opener, which the Aces took 5-4.

Perth pounced back in the second game of the series, winning 6-2 behind another dominant pitching performance by Edwin Carl (2-0, 1.62).

Melbourne's offence exploded for 14 runs on 21 hits in the third game of the series, shutting out Perth 14-0.

That series concludes on Monday morning at 11am (AEDT).