Perth Heat enhanced their ABL playoff prospects outscoring the Canberra Cavalry 21 runs to two over the last three games with manager Andy Kyle looking forward to continuing the momentum against the Sydney Blue Sox.
Looking back on last weekend in Canberra and even though it didn’t start perfectly for the Heat with the 3-1 loss on Thursday night, once play resumed on Saturday they were tremendous with their season on the line.
The Heat produced 4-1, 9-0 and 8-1 victories to secure the series win and to move themselves into third position as a result with a series to play ahead of what Kyle will be hoping turns out being a semi-final series, and potentially even one at home.
“It was an exciting weekend. Obviously we knew what was in front of us and it was a big weekend series to gain some ground or even potentially gain some ground if it didn’t go our way,” Kyle told 91.3 SportFM.
“Starting off I thought Tucker (Smith) threw the ball well but we gave up a three spot in that one inning to kinda lose that game.
“Their guys threw the ball well and we just weren’t able to execute. We were staring down the barrel after that when we got to the ballpark on Friday night and it’s rained off automatically so having to play the double-header the next day with more rain potentially around.
“They got the field up and going, though, to give us plenty of time to play two games and I give credit to the guys. They competed all day in those two games and pitched exceptionally, and our situational hitting was on point too.
“So we finished the double-header with momentum heading into Sunday and we had plenty of arms to put out there so it was a really exciting weekend to build some momentum heading into Sydney this week.”
Originally last weekend in Canberra wasn’t meant to include a double-header with a game each fixtures for Thursday through Sunday.
However, the Canberra weather had other ideas with Friday night’s Game 2 a washout meaning that there were two games on the Saturday, but that ended up working out well for the Heat.
They won both games on the Saturday 4-1 and then 9-1 before the big win on Sunday, and Kyle hopes they can now do similar this weekend in Sydney with the two games on Saturday once more against the Blue Sox either side of the matches on Friday night and Sunday afternoon.
“The doubles can be challenging and more so when you have the Friday Game 1, then double-header Saturday and play the last game on Sunday,” Kyle said.
“You’ve got to be mindful of the innings that we have to cover over the Saturday and Sunday. Sometimes that plays on your mind as far as attacking a game and what you have to do on the Friday night with keeping arms available for the Saturday.
“It does provide a challenge but it’s been a bit hit and miss this year to be honest. I don’t remember a season where there’s been so many sweeps in those double-header and usually you split those.
“We’ve been on the back end of a couple ourselves so to come up trumps in it against Canberra was huge for us.”
A big part of the offensive onslaught the Heat put in with the 21 runs in three games to wrap up the series in Canberra was the performances of Jhon Diaz.
The 22-year-old from the Dominican Republic finished off the series on Sunday with three hits including a home run and across the season he’s now batting at an average of .277 with the 38 hits from 137 at bats while clearing the fence six times and bringing in 22 runs.
Kyle couldn’t be more impressed with how he’s grown over the season but as much as his hitting has been important, so has his work in centre field where he’s also taken 87 catches and putout 86 batters across the 276 innings he’s been out there.
“His defence is exceptional with the amount of ground he covers in centre field, and he’s a true centre fielder,” Kyle said.
“I think that’s been a big advantage to our ball club and then the power’s starting to come with the bat.
“He’s putting together at bats and probably since Brisbane, he really turned the table offensively and it’s a big threat for us whether he’s in the two, three or four hole for us. He definitely adds some versatility to our line-up.”