Tim Kennelly wasted no time recording the 500th hit of his ABL career and Perth Heat put up 25 runs on Friday night and Sunday at Empire Ballpark while Melbourne Aces won the two games in a crucial series on Saturday.
Both teams are locked in a battle over an ABL playoff spot and little was settled in the Heat’s last home series of the regular season at Empire Ballpark.
The Heat won Game 1 on Friday night 11-5 with Kennelly becoming the first man in the modern ABL to produce 500 hits but the Aces hit back with 8-5 and 5-4 victories on Saturday.
Perth fired back with a 14-1 win on Sunday to square the series and to see them finish the round in fourth position still at 15-17 just ahead of the 14-17 Aces with road match ups to finish with the Canberra Cavalry and Sydney Blue Sox.
ABL REGULAR SEASON, SERIES 8, GAME 1
Both teams came into the series at Empire Ballpark knowing what was at stake with the playoff battle and the Heat made the perfect starting winning 11-5 on Friday night over the Aces with Tim Kennelly record hit No. 500.
Tucker Smith opened up the series with ball in hand for the Heat while it was Johnathan Tripp on the mound for the Aces, and the home team made the best possible start.
In the bottom of the first, Jhon Diaz got things rolling with a single before Ulrich Bojarski produced a double and then Alex Hall brought them all home with his seventh home run of the season clearing the left field fence.
That gave the Heat the 3-0 advantage by the end of one but Melbourne wasted no time striking back with hits from Morgan McCullough, Mitch Edwards, Aaron Whitefield and Jarryd Dale in the top of the second leading to them putting up two runs.
The Heat answered right back in the bottom of the second with a home run to Carlos Colmenarez, his fifth of the season, with a line drive that cleared the right fence.
Perth weren’t done in that inning either with a triple from Johnny Ascanio allowing Byron Armstrong to score, before a fly ball from Tim Kennelly also allowed Ascanio to score and to make it a 6-2 ball game.
The stunning start from the Heat continued in the bottom of the third beginning with a seventh home run of the season from Ulrich Bojarski over centre field.
Hits to Jake Bowey, Colmenarez and Jess Williams also brought in another run and Perth were on top 8-2 by the end of three.
Melbourne did pull back another couple of runs in the top of the fourth inning with a string of four singles but the Heat also added a ninth run in the bottom of the fourth thanks to a triple from Hall that allowed Kennelly to score after he opened things up with a double for his 500th career hit.
Neither team scored in the fifth inning but then the Heat pulled further away in the bottom of the sixth in an inning that saw Hall, Colmenarez and Armstrong all get on base by being hit by Aces pitcher Cameron Gibbens.
Williams was also walked and Perth managed to add another two runs as a result to be leading 11-4.
Melbourne did score in the ninth but the Heat still produced the 11-5 victory to move further clear of the Aces in fourth spot.
The Heat got home runs from Carlos Colmenarez, Alex Hall and Ulrich Bojarski while Jess Williams, Bojarski, Hall and Colmenarez all had two hits, and Johnny Ascanio, Tim Kennelly, Jhon Diaz, Jake Bowey and Byron Armstrong added one each.
Tucker Smith threw the first six innings for Perth with three strikeouts and 100 pitches for 67 strikes before Vinnie Tarantola came in for 22 pitches and 17 strikes, and Jai Hewitt 13 pitches with five strikes.
Melbourne got three hits each from Jarryd Dale and Greg Bird with Aaron Whitefield, Robbie Glendinning, Chris Burke and Mitch Edwards adding two.
Johnathon Tripp threw 81 pitches for 56 strikes, Steven Kent 29 for 18, Cameron Gibbens 26 for 10, Kyle Morrison 18 for 12, and finally Mitch Ellis 15 for seven.
PERTH HEAT 11 (Bowey, Hall, Bojarski 2; Armstrong, Colmenarez, Diaz, Kennelly, Ascanio)
MELBOURNE ACES 5 (Edwards 2; Burke, McCullough, Dale)
W – Tucker Smith; L – Johnathan Tripp
Friday January 3, Empire Ballpark
ABL REGULAR SEASON, SERIES 8, GAME 2
The Heat had all the momentum after Friday night’s Game 1 win but the Aces fired back to start Saturday’s double with the 8-5 victory to level the series.
Jake Bowey was making the start pitching for the Heat coming off earning a win last Sunday against Adelaide while it was Shawn Morimando opening up for the Aces.
Melbourne made the strong start with three straight hits from Robbie Glendinning, Greg Bird and Jarryd Dale that led to them scoring first in the game.
The Aces then extended their lead in the top of the third with hits from Glendinning and Bird that allowed them to score twice and go up 3-0.
That became 4-0 in the top of the fourth with a home run to Aaron Whitefield but the Heat did get on the board that same inning with Alex Hall coming around to score after he got himself to third with a hit and fielding error from Glendinning.
Melbourne was feeling good, though, and a double to Chris Burke in the fifth saw them add two more runs to go up 6-1 which became 8-1 with another two runs thanks to a home run from Glendinning in the sixth.
Perth did score twice in the bottom of the sixth with hits from Angel Mateo and Carlos Colmenarez, and another two in the seventh with an Ulrich Bojarski home run, but the Aces still prevailed 8-5.
On top of the home run from Bojarski, the Heat received hits from Enderson Delgado, Carlos Colmenarez, Angel Mateo, Jhon Diaz and Jess Williams.
Jake Bowey pitched for the first four innings with four strikeouts and throwing 87 pitches with 57 strikes. Ji-Han Park then came on for 46 pitches with 23 strikes and Eui-Tae Seo finished with 12 pitches and eight strikes.
Melbourne got home runs from Robbie Glendinning and Aaron Whitefield with Greg Bird and Glendinning finishing with three hits, and Jarryd Dale two.
Shawn Morimando earned the win with five innings for five strikeouts made up of 83 pitches with 57 strikes. Chase Jessee came on for 26 pitches with 11 strikes, Steven Kent four with three, and Dovydas Neverauskas 17 with 11.
PERTH HEAT 5 (Mateo, Ascanio, Hall, Bojarski, Williams)
MELBOURNE ACES 8 (Dale 3; Glendinning 2; Belbin, Moore, Whitefield)
W – Shawn Morimando; L – Jake Bowey
Saturday January 4, Empire Ballpark
ABL REGULAR SEASON, SERIES 8, GAME 3
The Heat attempted to bounce back from that first up loss on Saturday but it was the Aces who took the series lead with the 5-4 Saturday night victory at Empire Ballpark despite two runs in the final inning from the home team.
Young Woo Shin was back available for the Heat and was the starting pitcher for Game 3 with Joey Steele on the mound for the Aces.
It took until the top of the third inning for the first run of the game which went the way of Melbourne following a double from ex-Heat star Robbie Glendinning.
The Heat then produced a huge third inning too beginning with a hit from Jess Williams before Tim Kennelly added another and then Jhon Diaz got on base and allowed Williams and Johnny Ascanio both to score.
That gave Perth the 2-1 lead but Melbourne levelled things up in the top of the fourth with a double from Mitch Edwards.
That’s where things stayed until the top of the seventh where back-to-back doubles from Jarryd Dale and Glendinning saw the Aces take the 3-2 ascendancy.
That became 4-2 with a home from Jarrod Belbin in the eighth and 5-2 with another run thanks to three hits to start the ninth for Melbourne.
The Heat did manage two runs in the ninth themselves with hits from Ascanio and Diaz, but the Aces held on to win 5-4 and take the 2-1 series lead.
Perth got two hits each from Jhon Diaz and Jess Williams with Tim Kennelly and Ulrich Bojarski adding one each.
Young Woo Shin pitched the first four innings with three strikeouts and 39 strikes from 74 pitches while Jong-Hae Won came on for four innings with five strikeouts, and Warwick Saupold finished of with 19 pitches for 12 strikes.
Jarrod Belbin hit the only home run of the game for the Aces with Aaron Whitefield and Robbie Glendinning delivering three hits each, and Belbin two.
Joey Steele pitched the first four innings for four strikeouts before Noah Owen threw for 31 pitches with 23 strikes, Billy Parsons 23 with 15, Steven Kent 16 with eight, Dovydas Neverauskas 23 with 12, and Jack Fox eight with five.
PERTH HEAT 4 (Williams, Armstrong, Colmenarez, Ascanio)
MELBOURNE ACES 5 (Whitefield 2; McCullough, Belbin, Dale)
W – Noah Owen; L – Jong-Hae Won, S – Jack Fox
Saturday January 4, Empire Ballpark
ABL REGULAR SEASON, SERIES 8, GAME 4
The final home game of the regular season for the Heat was on Sunday and it became a must win affair with the top four battle heating up, and they responded mighty impressively for the 14-1 victory.
It was Dariel Fregio opening up pitching in Game 4 for the Heat in the last game at Empire Ballpark for the 2024/25 campaign while it was Jack Fox opening up throwing for the Aces.
Perth set the tone right in the very first inning with hits from Tim Kennelly, Ulrich Bojarski, Alex Hall, Angel Mateo and Carlos Colmenarez, and a bunt from Jess Williams, all leading to two runs and the 2-0 lead.
The Heat doubled the lead in the second inning again with a string of hits from Williams, Jhon Diaz and then Bojarski for the 4-0 advantage.
It was two more runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to give the Heat the 6-0 edge thanks to a string of hits once more, this time from Enderson Delgado, Bojarski and Hall.
Melbourne managed to open its account in the top of sixth but Perth kept building on the lead with a double first up in the sixth from Byron Armstrong and in the end the home team added another four runs to end up leading 10-1.
Perth weren’t done there either with another four runs in the seventh inning including a double from Williams who had a brilliant game to make it a 14-1 lead which would remain the final score as the Heat squared the series, and stayed in fourth spot as a result.
Jhon Diaz delivered four hits in the game for the Heat, Ulrich Bojarski three, Alex Hall two, Jess Williams two and one each to Enderson Delgado, Byron Armstrong, Johnny Ascanio, Carlos Colmenarez, Angel Mateo and Tim Kennelly.
Dariel Fregio threw down 77 pitches for 48 strikes before Vinnie Tarantola came on for eight pitches and seven strikes, Steffon Moore 21 and 10, Warwick Saupold 16 and 11, Raleigh Pelkonen one and one, and Tyler Beardsley 17 and nine.
Melbourne only had four hits for the game from Darryl George, Greg Bired, Jarryd Dale and Aaron Whitefield while Jack Fox, Billy Parsons, Chase Jessee, Kyle Morrison, Cameron Gibbens, Mitch Ellis and Mitch Edwards all had turns pitching.
PERTH HEAT 14 (Diaz, Kennelly 3; Delgado, Armstrong, Williams 2; Colmenarez, Bojarski)
MELBOURNE ACES 1 (Whitefield)
W – Dariel Fregio; L – Jack Fox
Sunday January 5, Empire Ballpark