Sunshine Eagles president Robert Blackmore has compared his club’s brand new playing surface to the MCG itself. 87438_01 Picture: JOE MASTROIANNI
By ADEM SARICAOGLU
SUNSHINE Baseball Club opened its newly refurbished field at Barclay Reserve on Sunday but couldn’t get the job done in its first game back in Division One, losing 7-2 to Cheltenham.
The Eagles were promoted back into the top tier after finishing on top of the ladder in Division Two last summer, and coach Shaun Moore says his new surroundings will have many benefits.
“As infielders it’s a dream to play on,” Moore said.
“It’s a good, solid ground. You know you’re not going to get any bad hops.”
Club president Robert Blackmore told Star the new playing surface is first class.
“It’s now a level playing field, it’s (got) true bounce and it’s going to be safer and far better for players to play on,” Blackmore said.
“It’s like playing on the MCG as against probably Buckley Park.
“From a football point of view the MCG’s a Mickey Mouse ground and it’s the same with this, this is an absolutely Mickey Mouse facility.”
While it may provide a level of comfort and confidence in Sunshine’s first year back in the top flight, Moore is aware of the importance of building on what his team achieved last season.
“We really took it to the next level,” Moore said of last summer.
“Knowing that we had the team to finish in the top two, to actually finish top and be promoted straight to Division One was fantastic for us.”
Although the step up will be a significant one, Moore believes his experienced playing stocks have what it takes to be competitive and finish mid-table.
“They’ll handle the pressure pretty well,” he said.
“We’ve got Rory Meddick, who won the MVP in Division Two last year.
“He’ll be looking to have a pretty good year this year in Division One.”
Moore said Adam Irons, Scott Moore, Rohan Brasher, Matthew Jacobsson and Japanese recruit Shigefumi Nakanishi will also be important factors this summer.
“We’ve actually got a fantastic defensive team, so we’ll just see how our offence goes this year.”
