By ADEM SARICAOGLU
THE Werribee Giants dropped a game they should have won in Division Two Summer League baseball on Saturday.
In a 15-inning marathon at Werribee’s Presidents Park, the Giants gave up a four-run lead from the top of the seventh and ended up going down 8-7 to lowly Bonbeach.
Werribee coach Phil Balzer admitted afterward his side should not have let the game slip in the fashion it did on Saturday.
“It was a bit disappointing,” Balzer said.
“Bonbeach had been struggling and when you’re up there among the leaders in your league then it’s expected that you win those sorts of games, or at least put in a pretty good effort, but I thought we were a little bit ordinary.
“Against a team that’s near the bottom we want to be playing a better brand of baseball and we just didn’t come through, which was unfortunate.”
Werribee blew multiple chances to bunt runners home to win the game late, while Balzer was also left ruing crucial defensive errors in the field when the game was on the line.
“That was really disappointing that we had three guys that couldn’t convert a basic bunt opportunity down, and we fumbled the ball in the eighth to let Bonbeach back into the game as well,” Balzer said.
“So we look at it as though we lost that game.
“They won it because of our failure to make certain plays and get some bunts down and do some of the basic stuff, and we can’t do that in finals.
“We won’t stand a chance if we can’t convert those opportunities.”
This Saturday the Giants will travel to Berwick hoping they can bounce back with finals now just a month away.
Balzer said third-placed Werribee needs to learn its lesson from Saturday and not take any game for granted from now on.
“We just can’t underestimate Berwick, and obviously losing to Bonbeach reinforces that,” Balzer said.
“Berwick have underperformed this year, but they’ll be tough to beat on the road.”
