By ADEM SARICAOGLU
WILLIAMSTOWN moved to 3-0 in Division Two baseball after taking care of Port Melbourne 12-4 at home on Sunday.
The Wolves had to come from two runs down after the first inning before asserting their dominance on the game, scoring the next six runs through the next six innings.
The visitors then managed to snare one back but gave up six more to Williamstown in the seventh, effectively killing off the game.
Offensively the surprise standout for the Wolves was Bill Millar, a former thirds player for St Kilda who impressed his new coach Dean Marnell on debut with Williamstown’s firsts.
“He was outstanding,” Marnell said.
“In the first two games we had him in the seconds because he had a pretty good pre-season but he earned a spot this week and performed really well.
“He got three hits from four at-bats and had multiple RBIs, so he had a really good first game in the ones.”
Marnell also praised his pitching staff – which included David Asp, Josh Lee and Jason Lester – for their strong showing on the mound.
“Our pitchers were excellent today,” Marnell said.
“We finished off with Jason Lester. He closed out the game and looked really solid.
“He was looking like he was in the form he was in last year, so all in all we were pretty solid on the mound today.”
The reigning Division Two premier so far looks as though it will be a force once more this summer, but the Wolves’ title credentials will only get better with the arrival of US import catcher and heavy hitter Russell Moldenhauer, who will arrive in the country this week.
Marnell, who usually opts against recruiting imports in favour of developing local talent, said Moldenhauer was brought in to fill specific needs both on offence and defence.
“He’ll be catching for us and playing a little bit of first base and outfield,” Marnell explained.
“We’re looking forward to including him in the line-up and from all reports, his offence is quite exceptional.
“He’s a power hitter, so that’ll help our hitting line-up a bit.”
