The Auckland Tuatara have extended their lead atop the Northeast Division of the Australian Baseball League after a record-breaking, series-clinching win over the Sydney Blue Sox.
The Tuatara won the four-game series 3-1 after earning a 16-2 win over Sydney with Jonny Homza, Jared Walker and Max Brown leading the way with the bat.
Homza finished the game an impressive five-for-five batting to improve his season average to .297 while Walker continued his fine form with a three-for-four performance. Brown went three-for-five.
Interestingly, despite the huge scoreline, the Tuatara didn't rely on the long ball to score their runs with not a single home run hit by the travelling Kiwi side yesterday.
In fact, only five of the team's 20 hits in the win resulted in extra bases with all five being doubles.
On the defensive side, former major league pitcher Jen-Ho Tseng looked impressive in a brief start as he struck out four while not giving up a hit or walk in three innings in his first performance for the club.
Sandro Cabrera also threw a scoreless inning in his ABL debut while Jimmy Boyce did a nice job of two-hit baseball over four innings to earn the win.
The result - the largest win in the young club's history - sees the Tuatara's record improve to 19-13 for the season which is good enough for a four and a half game lead over the Brisbane Bandits and Canberra Cavalry in the Northeast Division.
The Tuatara now travel to Canberra next week for their next series against the Cavalry but games could be changed depending on the situation with the ongoing Australian bushfires.
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