By ADEM SARICAOGLU
WILLIAMSTOWN coach Dean Marnell is well-aware his Wolves are not quite over the line just yet in Division Two Summer League Baseball.
The competition frontrunners qualified for this week’s grand final series after easily getting past Moorabbin in two games on Wednesday and Saturday.
The Wolves will now face Springvale in the Division Two decider over the coming week, but Marnell is wary of his side’s grand final foe and their key weapon with both bat and ball, Freddy Flores.
“We played Springvale in round one and (Flores) is really good,” Marnell said.
“He played national league (for the Australian Baseball League’s Melbourne Aces) this year and he can pitch, but he can hit the ball as well.
“We saw him in round one and he seemed to do well against us, so we’ll have our work cut out against Springvale.”
The Wolves are firing on all cylinders and, based on the numbers at least, are well-deserving of the favourites tag going into the decider.
With the bat, Marnell is happy with how Williamstown is going, but he does believe the Wolves’ work in the field can be improved ahead of the grand final series opener.
“I reckon offensively we’re going really well at the moment, we’re swinging the bats really well, we’re having really good plate appearances and everyone in the line-up one to nine has been a really tough out,” Marnell said.
“I think we’re doing all the fundamentals as well, putting the bunts down and running the bases well, so that’s pleasing.
“Defensively, we’ve had a couple of lapses here and there. In the 16 innings we played in the semi-finals, we probably had two bad innings and 14 really good innings.
“So we could probably get better there.”
Williamstown’s bullpen also looks to be in good working order, with Jason Lester, David Asp and Josh Lee all fit and ready to go.
“Our three gun pitchers are really starting to come along, and the guys we’ve got relieving them got some work in on Wednesday night too, so that was quite pleasing,” Marnell said.
