Baseball: Coach looking for more after Black Sox demolish Samoa

Thomas Cameron pitching for the Black Sox against Samoa yesterday. Picture / Brett Phibbs

Despite their commanding series win over Samoa, Black Sox coach Eddie Kohlhase said there will be a number of changes to the team for next month's Commonwealth Series in Melbourne.

The Black Sox beat Samoa soundly 4-0 in Auckland over the weekend.

With the world championships still four years away, Kohlhase says his focus is on developing player depth.

"Once we understand what we have got available, we can start working on team strategies and game situations."

The team to play in the Commonwealth Series, which also includes Canada, South Africa, Samoa, and the fast-improving Australians, will be named on December 19 after the national league finals. The 17 players will come from Kohlhase's New Zealand squad of 32.

"It is tough. All of these guys have put their hands up to be picked for the Commonwealth Series but we have discussed our philosophy with everyone and they understand ... we have to keep upping the benchmark."

With that in mind four different lineups were used against Samoa. While all four came out on top, the Black Sox win over Samoa, a team loaded with New Zealand-based players, was the result of their prowess with the bat.

Over the four games the Black Sox scored an impressive 37 runs of which 15 were home runs. They conceded just eight. "The offensive power shown by the guys was quite outstanding," Kohlhase said. "We scored a bunch of runs against some pretty good pitchers."

Travis Wilson, playing his first international match in nine years after a career in baseball, was particularly outstanding, slamming five home runs. "He was quite phenomenal really. I have seen some power batting in my time but this weekend Travis just went beyond anything else."

Although he was happy with his side's offensive game, Kohlhase said defensively he is looking for more from them.

Series win

* Game 1: Black Sox 13 Samoa 2

* Game 2: Black Sox 6 Samoa 5

* Game 3: Black Sox 7 Samoa 1

* Game 4: Black Sox 11 Samoa 0