Aussies blank Redlands to even series

REDLANDS – Chad Zerbe, as a former major league pitcher for the San Francisco Giants, knows pitching. So when Zerbe is impressed with someone, it’s significant.

Monday Zerbe was wowed with the Aussie Expos’ pitchers in a 5-0 Expo win against Zerbe’s Redlands 909ers.

“They were fun to watch,” the 909er coach said.  “They threw the baseball well. They had good fastballs and off-speed pitches.”

The Expo win evened the series with Redlands at 1-1. Redlands won Saturday’s game 10-6.

The Expo mound trio of Lachlan O’Sullivan, Bailey Russell, and Brooklyn Garner shut down Redlands on four hits.

O’Sullivan yielded three hits in four innings, striking out nine and walking four.

Russell allowed one hit in 2 1/3 innings, striking out three and walking three.

Garner allowed no hits in two-thirds of an inning, striking out one.

“We threw strikes, and we kept the ball low,” Expo coach Michael Crossland said. “We made the routine plays, and we shut out their offense. It was impressive. On offense, we manufactured runs.”

The Aussies scored all the runs they needed in the first inning on only one hit. Connor McCarthy had a run-scoring fielder’s choice. The Expos exploited a Redlands error.

The Expos added another run in the third on Oliver Pickford’s sharp RBI single to center field that drove in Jake Connolly who singled.

The Expos added their final two runs in the sixth, taking advantage of two walks. Noah Rodgers had an RBI groundout.

Redlands dominated against the Aussies on Saturday. Ethan Snellings and Nevin Zerbe each had two hits and one RBI, Eyam Eldevik had one hit and two RBI, and Evan White and Dominic Gibbons had one hit and one RBI apiece.  

Connolly and O’Sullivan both had two hits for the Aussies and Ed Ryan had a hit and two RBI.

The teams play a doubleheader on Wednesday at Arrowhead Christian Academy with games at 5 and 8 p.m.

The final game is at 9 a.m. on Friday at the University of Redlands.