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It would have been a tough afternoon for the Perth Heat awaiting a chance to avenge the loss to start Saturday's double-header, but to say they responded to it emphatically would even be quite the understatement.
The Heat were on a high having beaten the Brisbane Bandits 5-0 on Thursday and the Adelaide Giants 5-1 on Friday to start life in Australian Baseball League's South Australian hub.
That momentum continued for much of the first game of the double-header on Saturday at Dicolor Australia Stadium against the Bandits as well.
However the game ended up going to extra innings and despite the Heat scoring in the eighth, the Bandits responded with a walk off hit to take the 3-2 win and make it twice now in nine days the Heat have lost in similar fashion in extra time having been in winning positions.
That made for a long Saturday afternoon in Adelaide waiting for the evening game against the hometown Giants, but once the game was underway, the Heat wasted no time making amends.
It was on the back of teenage pitching as well. It was 18-year-old Will Sherriff who opened proceedings for the Heat and he was tremendous while the Heat took the early lead with a run in the first inning on the back of a single from Grant Witherspoon and double from Tim Kennelly.
With Sherriff only giving up one hit in three innings pitched, the Heat were proving again tremendous defensively before he got relieved by 17-year-old Maddux Stivey.
He kept things tight as well before the Heat closed out with some experience in the form of Daniel Schmidt, Nick Alexiou and Tom Bailey as the bats caught fire in stunning fashion.
The Heat added another run in the fourth with hits to both Witherspoon and Tim Kennelly, with Witherspoon able to make it home for a second time on the night after stealing second base.
But the Heat were just getting started and the fifth innings was simply remarkable.
It started with Jess Williams getting on base through a fielding error before Abiezel Ramirez and Ford Proctor got themselves on deck too. Glendinning then hit all four of them home with his second home run of the double-header to make it 6-0.
Witherspoon was back at the plate and this time got himself to third straight away with the triple before Tim Kennelly drove him home. Williams was then back up and he hit a double to drive in another run before Ramirez did the same.
The Heat amassed nine runs in the inning to lead 11-0 and that's where the final score remained.
There were some stunning hitting numbers to come out of the game including Tim Kennelly going 4/4 to drive in three runs and score once himself.
Grant Witherspoon had three hits as well from his four at bats to score twice while Abiezel Ramirez had two hits. Robbie Glendinning hit his second homer of the day while Sam Kennelly batted in two runs as well in quite the offensive outburst from the Heat.
The Heat will now enjoy the day off on Sunday before another double-header in Adelaide on Monday against the Bandits and Giants once again.
By Chris Pike.
ABL REGULAR SEASON, ADELAIDE HUB GAME 3
PERTH HEAT 2 (Glendinning, Proctor)
BRISBANE BANDITS 3 (Taylor, Kahle, Dutton)
W – Aaron Brown; L – Zac Reininger
ABL REGULAR SEASON, ADELAIDE HUB GAME 4
PERTH HEAT 11 (Witherspoon 2, Williams 2, Glendinning 2, Ramirez, Proctor, T Kennelly, Sasaki, S Kennelly)
ADELAIDE GIANTS 0
W – Maddux Stivey; L – Jason Lott
Saturday January 16, Dicolor Australia Stadium