Errors costly in Pirates’ defeat

ILLAWARRA BASEBALL LEAGUE

FRANK BOOTH

AN ERROR-RIDDLED performance cost the Bulli Pirates in their round 13 Illawarra Baseball League match against Kiama at Dalton Park on Saturday.

The Pirates went down 7-5 with four of the visitors' runs coming off Bulli errors.

Saturday's clash came six days after Bulli scored a 4-3 win over the same opponent in a deferred match.

On earned runs the Pirates outscored the Braves 5-3. Bulli took an early lead with a run scored following Corey Hayman's double before each team scored in the third.

Kiama took the lead 3-2 in the fifth and scored a further three in the seventh innings to lead 6-2.

Bulli rallied with three runs in the eighth but failed to catch Kiama, who scored a further run in the ninth inning.

Ben Gibson pitched 6.1 innings for Pirates, allowing two earned runs on eight hits and reliever Brendan Lower allowed one earned run on two hits.

Braves pitcher Brendan Armstrong pitched allowed five earned runs on seven hits.

Stuart Masters, Adrian Clarke and Brett Single all batted 2 from 5 with 2 RBI's for Braves and Pirates hitting was shared through the lineup.

The Braves outhit the home team 10-7 and the four Pirates errors resulted in as many unearned runs for the Braves.

Meanwhile, Berkeley Eagles and Dapto Chiefs produced another classic battle, with the Eagles winning 9-7 after being down 4-nil early.

The Chiefs registered 10 hits, with Stuart McCarthy hitting 3 from 4.

Berkeley tallied 13 hits with the honours shared by Ward, Thompson, Mills and Kuit with two each.

Josh Doyle pitched six innings for Eagles, allowing nine hits and four earned runs and Dapto's Tim Inglis allowed seven earned runs.

In round 14 Berkeley play Bulli at Fred Finch Park.