Baseball: Auckland Tuatara win second straight series as bats heat up against Brisbane Bandits

Multimedia Journalist·NZ Herald·

14 Dec, 2019 05:30 PM2 mins to read

Joshua Morgan rounds the bases after hitting a home run against the Brisbane Bandits. Photo: SMPIMAGES.COM / Baseball.com.au / @smp_images / Photosport

The Auckland Tuatara are reaching higher ground.

After a slow start to the season where their hitters couldn't get anything going, the bats have heated up and come to the support of their pitchers.

Now, four weeks into the Australian Baseball League season, the Auckland side look like genuine playoff threats.

The side claimed their second straight series win this weekend, winning three of their four games against the four-time champion Brisbane Bandits, scoring 24 runs in the four match series.

After taking our the series against the Canberra Cavalry by the same margin on home soil the week prior, the Tuatara have lifted themselves out of a hole and into second place in the North-East division.

With a 7-9 record, the Tuatara sit just two games behind the Sydney Blue Sox, who visit Auckland for a four game series starting on Thursday.

Having scored the fewest runs (61) in the competition with the fewest number of hits (95), back-to-back series wins will undoubtedly lift the confidence of the side who fell flat through their opening eight games of the season.

The Auckland side saw plenty to be excited about on the park in Brisbane, with pitchers Jimmy Boyce and Josh Collmenter overcoming early trouble to work their way into a position to earn the win - Boyce giving up five runs in the first inning of his start, which the Tuatara eventually won 9-5.

The series wasn't without its heroics at the plate. Won-Seok Kim's hit a three-run blast to win game two of the series, while imports Josh Morgan, Kent Blackstone and Jonny Homza all found the sweet spot in their bats as well.

Local star Andrew Marck continued his strong start to the campaign at the plate and now ranks second among all hitters in the competition in batting average (.405).

Auckland Tuatara at Brisbane Bandits