In Australian Baseball League action from today, Adelaide won 9-4 behind three RBI’s each from both Stefan Welch and former Pirates outfielder, Quincy Latimore. Welch went 1-for-3, with his seventh double and a run scored. He drove in a run with a sacrifice fly and walked in his other AB. He now has 22 RBI’s on the season. Latimore has eight RBI’s in eight games since joining Adelaide right before the new year started.
With the Dominican League playoffs taking an off-day yesterday, it was a light day for Winter League news. In the Venezuelan League playoffs, Darren Ford has been benched since going hitless in his first three starts. Yesterday, he came into the game as a pinch-runner in the seventh inning and stole a base. He remained in the game defensively in left field without getting a plate appearance.
In Mexican League playoff action, catcher Ali Solis made his first appearance of the postseason. He came into the game defensively in the ninth inning with his team up one. The game ended up tied and went into extra innings, where he batted once before being pinch hit for in the 12th inning. He lined out to left in his only plate appearance. The Pirates recently signed Lucas May, who will compete with Solis for the backup catching spot to Tony Sanchez in Indianapolis.
Kennelly Strong In Amateur Play
As mentioned here last week, Sam Kennelly left the Perth Heat of the ABL to play in the U18 National Youth Championships in Australia. The nine day tournament started yesterday with a doubleheader and continued today with one game. Kennelly, who just celebrated his seventeenth birthday on Wednesday, went 3-for-4 today, with a double and a run scored. Yesterday, he went 1-for-3 in the opener, with a walk, run scored and an RBI. In the second game, he went 1-for-4, with a two-run triple.
Kennelly’s team has won all three games to open the tournament. He has batted third in the order and played all three games at shortstop. In the ABL with Perth, Kennelly was seeing limited playing time and moving between 2B, 3B and SS. Talking to him after today’s game, Kennelly said “It’s good to get some more games at shortstop” where he was busy in two of tournament games, while having no plays in the other start. He continued on by saying he’s “hitting real well and my defense is good too so I’m feeling really positive.”
The tournament continues on tomorrow with two games for Kennelly’s team.
