Brisbane riding five-game ABL win streak
After losing the first three games of the 2015/16 Australian Baseball League season, the Brisbane Bandits swept their round two series against the Adelaide Bite to be tied for second place with the Perth Heat.
Playing their home opening weekend, Brisbane (5-3) won the first game of the series in dramatic fashion on Friday, on a 10th-inning walk-off single off the bat of Tampa Bay Rays Major League Baseball prospect Maxx Tissenbaum.
The next night followed a similar script, with the Bandits rallying for four runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to tie the game, followed by another walk-off single by Tissenbaum in the 10th.
Brisbane rallied for four runs in the seventh in game three to win 5-4.
Home runs from Nick Ciuffo, Bralin Jackson and David Sutherland led the way in the Bandits 6-4 series finale win.
Last year's minor premiers the Bite (1-7) have gotten off to a slow start to the season, losing six games in a row.
In Sydney, the Perth Heat (5-3) and Sydney Blue Sox (4-4) split a four-game set. Perth won the first game 4-1 on Friday, on a strong start by new ABL all-time wins leader Daniel Schmidt.
Sydney swept the next day's doubleheader, riding the hot bat of Philadelphia Phillies MLB prospect Rhys Hoskins. Hoskins smashed a three-run home run in the first game and had a walk-off double in the 10th inning of game two to give the Blue Sox a 3-2 win.
Perth mainstay Matt Kennelly drove in four runs in the series finale on Sunday, including the game-winning run in the top of the 11th inning.
The ladder-leading Canberra Cavalry (6-2) stayed hot on the road in Melbourne, slugging their way to wins in the first three games of the series.
After taking the first game 2-0, Canberra scored 24 runs and smashed six home runs over the course of a doubleheader on Saturday.
The Aces (3-5) salvaged the series finale on Sunday, winning 3-1 thanks to a complete-game effort on the mound from Mike McGillivray and a three-RBI day by shortstop Tanner Vavra.
Vavra, the son of Aces manager Joe Vavra, drove in all three Melbourne runs on a solo home run and a two-run double.
