The Auckland Tuatara have won their first-ever series on home soil, clinching it with a 4-2 win over the Canberra Cavalry in Albany today. It means they take the series 3-1 and improve to a 4 win, 7 loss record.
However, it was the visitors that made the better start after a scoreless first innings. Jerrick Suiter sent a home run over the centre field fence to bring home David Kandalis and 2-0 lead.
The Tuatara struck back straight away though, with some perfect small ball play to load the bases. After two walks and a bunt, Won-seok Kim drove a single to centre field to bring home two runners and tie up the score.
A wild pitch then brought Max Brown home to take the lead.
Proving they were not just good on offence, the Tuatara infield turned a double play to get them out of a jam with runners on first and third.
Kris Richards then scored in the fifth off a Josh Morgan sacrifice fly to make the lead two runs. While it was not the most reassuring of leads, the infield once again combined for a slick double play in the seventh innings to record the first two outs and end Canberra’s hopes.
The win was the first series win on New Zealand soil for the Tuatara, who are in the second year of play in the Australian Baseball League.
The went down 7-5 on Thursday night, before bouncing back to win 4-0 on Friday and 4-2 last night.
The Tuatara now travel to Brisbane to take on the Bandits in a four-game series, before returning home for a shot at the Sydney Blue Sox back at Albany.