Not Van Mil but Stoecklin who is in the center of the attention

In the fourth game of the week between the Adelaide Bite and the Sydney Blue Sox, it wasn’t Loek van Mil who was in the center of the attention this time.

The Sydney Blue took a decisive 13-3 lead in the first three innings as they scored four runs in the first, four in the second and five in the third inning. In the sixth they added one more run to their total.

Later in the game, the Bite came back as they scored six runs in the eighth inning to get within four runs of the Blue Sox. But from that moment on the gas was out of the tank. In that eighth inning, Calvin Drummond had some control issues as he walked the first three batters that he faced. A single by Marc Wik drove in the first of six runs in that inning. With one blow Angus Roeger drove in four runs as he belted Drummond’s offering to center field where it cleared the fence for a grand slam homerun. After Drummond retired the next two batters, the control issues reared up again as he hit Mason Pickard with a pitch and threw a wild pitch with Tom Brice at bat that allowed Pickard to advanced to second base. Pickard could score on Brice’s single to center field. But from that moment on, the gas was out of the tank.

In the ninth Brandon Zywicki limited the Bite to one hit, which he gave up to the lead off hitter, and retired the next three hitters.

Jan-Niclas Stöcklin from Germany, where he is pitching for the Mainz Athletics of the German first Bundesliga, pitched six solid innings in which he gave up three runs on four hits. He gave up three walks and struck out three. The three runs that he gave up came in the second inning on a solo homerun by Kyle Petty and on two walks, a double and a sacrifice fly.

Thanks to this win, Stöcklin’s record improved to 2-1 with a 3.25 ERA.

With this win the Blue Sox avoided being swept by the Bite and remain within a one game range of the Bite (13-14) as the Blue Sox have a 12-15 record.