2019/20 State League: Week 20 Wrap

The Carine Cats booked their playoff ticket in the final round of the season. Credit: Carine Cats Baseball Club

​The 2019/20 Baseball WA State League 1 regular season came to an end last week, with the Wanneroo Giants, Morley Eagles, Braves, South Perth Cubs and Carine Cats booking their ticket to the postseason after locking up spots in the competition’s top five.
 
Wanneroo claimed the minor premiership, while Carine snuck into the Wildcard game after claiming a pair of wins in Week 20.

Carine Cats 11-5 Wembley Magpies
W: Devon Ramirez (3-4), L: Joris Van Ballegooy (0-1)
 
Carine’s first win of the week came on Wednesday as they came from behind to down a spirited Wembley Magpies 11-5.
 
The Magpies got off to a fast start to lead 3-2 after four innings thanks to RBIs from Michael Varga, Joris Van Ballegooy and Curis Bacon before the Cats hit back with a late flurry of runs.
 
Carine scored six unanswered runs across the seventh, eighth and ninth innings to collect the win.
 
Lead-off man Kamil Pejchal led the way with three RBIs for the Cats.
 
Gosnells Hawks 4-10 Rockingham Rams
W: Sam Murphy (6-5), L: Josh Silvi (4-5)
 
The Rockingham Rams played the role of the villain on Friday night as they blocked Gosnell’s path to the postseason with a 10-4 win over the Hawks.
 
The Rams came to play as they raced out to a 7-0 lead after three innings to set up the win.
 
Rockingham’s offence was cooking at the plate, with Dion Davey picking up a pair of doubles and RBIs in the win.
 
Sam Murphy pitched a gem, throwing eight stellar innings to collect the win. 
 
Game 1: South Perth Cubs 4-6 Victoria Park/Belmont Reds
W: Matthew Martin (3-4), L: Tony Olson (4-6)
 
Game 2: South Perth Cubs 15-3 Victoria Park/Belmont Reds
W: Luke Mann (7-1), L: Jason Armstrong (0-1)
 
The South Perth Cubs booked their spot in the Wildcard game after salvaging a double-header split with the Victoria Park/Belmont Reds on Sunday.
 
After losing game one by a score of 6-4, the Cubs hit back to take game two 15-3 to seal their playoff spot as the fourth seed.
 
Matthew Martin tossed six strong innings to set up the Reds’ game one win.
 
The Cubs hit back in a big way in game two, however, combining for 10 team hits with Adam Barbarich leading the charge with a home run and double.
 
Jake Bowey also cleared the fence for South Perth earlier in the day, while Gavin Stupienski went yard for Victoria Park.
 
Carine Cats 6-2 Swan Districts Swans
W: Peter Reyes (7-4), L: Dillon Clarkson (4-10)
 
Carine backed up their win on Wednesday night by taking care of business again on Sunday, downing the Swan Districts Swans 6-2.
 
The Cats put up a three-spot in the third inning and raced out to a commanding 5-0 lead to take control of the game and set up victory.
 
Peter Reyes claimed the win after throwing 5.1 strong frames to propel Carine into the playoffs with some momentum. 
 
Game 1: Wanneroo Giants 7-8 Perth
W: Guillaume Duguay (6-4), L: Jackson Riley (3-1)
 
Game 2: Wanneroo Giants 14-0 Perth
W: Chris King (8-4), L: Aidan Austen (4-4)
 
The Wanneroo Giants will hope their late season stumble doesn’t carry through to the postseason after they were forced to settle for a series split against Perth to round out the regular season.
 
The Giants went 2-4 in their last six games of the regular season, after losing game one by a score of 8-7.
 
The minor premiers responded in emphatic fashion, however, in game two as they recorded a resounding 14-0 win.
 
Despite scoring four runs in the sixth inning to take a 7-5 lead, Wanneroo were stung by a walk-off loss in game one as Brendan Dadson scored the winning run to help Perth to a dramatic 8-7 win.
 
The Giants hit back in game two as Madison Beaird homered as one of 14 team hits to see them clinch the minor premiership and lock down the all important first seed.
 
 
Wembley Magpies 1-23 Rockingham Rams
W: Brock Molloy (3-9), L: Curtis Bacon (1-6)
 
Rockingham earned their second win of the week and closed out their season in resounding fashion by defeating Wembley 23-1 on Sunday.
 
The Rams scored a staggering 15 runs in the third inning as Thomas DeBonville cleared the fence in the win.
 
18 men came to the plate in Rockingham’s third inning onslaught.
 
 
Morley Eagles 5-9 Braves
W: Mitch Neunborn (5-0), L: Brendan Sing (2-1)
 
In a preview of the weekend’s semi-final series, Braves defeated the Morley Eagles 9-5 to round out the regular season.
 
Last year’s grand finalists, Braves and Morley will again do battle as the second and third seeds for a spot in the big dance.
 
It was the Braves who landed the first blow on Sunday as a four-run eighth inning propelled them to victory.
 
Locked at 5-5 heading into the bottom of the eighth, Tim Kennelly broke the deadlock with an RBI single before brother Sam drove in a pair with an two-run single of his own.
 
Mitch Neunborn collected the final six outs to nail down the win.
 
Earlier in the game, Morley raced out to a 4-0 lead before Dominick Golubiewski homered to put last year’s champions in pole position.
 
The Braves hit back, however, scoring the next five runs of the game before ultimately walking away with the win.