Musketeers secure rousing victory

IPSWICH Musketeers made up for a Friday night loss by beating Brisbane Major League baseball front runners Padres at Redcliffe yesterday.

A tough weekend seemed in store when the Muskets found themselves down 5-0 to Mudgeeraba at Tivoli.

They got back to within a run but couldn't catch the visitors.

“Their starting pitcher dominated us early,” Musketeers coach Dave Suthers said.

“We were running them down but he stayed in the game long enough that we ran out of innings.”

When starting pitcher Dean Jones called in sick yesterday it did not look good for the Muskets at the Padres' intimidating home ground.

“It's a really tough ground to play on,” Suthers said.

Step forward Josh Roberts, who pitched the opening six innings, never letting the Padres sniff a lead.

Robert Reeves closed out from the mound for the second consecutive Sunday to lead the Musketeers to a 9-6 victory.

“We're trying to keep all our pitchers as fresh as we can,” Suthers said.

“We've got guys who know what they're doing on the hill.”

Steven Bayliss was the star with the bat with a three run homer, while Matt Allen and Reeves each hit single run home-runs.

“We played good ball,” Suthers said. “We came and put in a big effort and won it.”