Berti Mashes, Sydney Slashes: Canberra loses Game 1

 

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The Canberra Cavalry got into a slugfest with the Sydney Blue Sox in Game One of their ABL Preliminary Final (first round) series in the Australian Baseball League on Friday.

 

 

While Jon Berti, last of the Dunedin Blue Jays, had an outstanding game for the Cavalry, it wasn’t enough as Canberra fell to the Blue Sox 18-11 in a pitcher’s nightmare. Berti, who was just named the team’s MVP at the banquet ceremony on Monday night, went four for five with a walk, scored two runs and drove in another but was picked off and didn’t steal any bases. The other Blue Jays minor leaguers, Jack Murphy and Mike Crouse, each had one hit while Murphy drove in a run and took a walk.

 

For Sydney, three players had particularly incredible games and fired the Blue Sox’ offense to victory. Center fielder Jacob May, a 2013 third-round draft pick who reached Class-A Kannapolis in the South Atlantic League, went five for seven with two RBI and four runs. Teammate Mitch Dening, who hails from Gosford, Australia, went five for six with three RBI. Dening, 25, last played in North America in 2012 for Washington in the Frontier League. 30-year-old Trent Oeltjen, a Sydney native, had six RBI for the Blue Sox from his three hits and a sacrifice fly. Oeltjen scored three times and hit a three-run home run in the second inning.

 

Game Two will be played Saturday at 6pm local time (late Friday night/early Saturday morning in North America) and can be seen live on streaming video online. Visit the Canberra Cavalry website for links.