![]() Mitch Dening had a hit, an RBI, and a run scored Sunday at Adelaide. (Nathan Atkins/ABL)
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Lefty Craig Anderson blanked the Bite for eight innings of two-hit ball, mirroring the dominant Friday night performance of fellow southpaw David Welch, and six different Sox players recorded hits as Sydney cruised to a 4-0 win in the series finale of four at Norwood Oval.
As became a common theme in the series for both teams, the Blue Sox took Sunday's early lead with a pair of runs. On the final night of the set, that offensive production came in the second inning when a wild pitch by Bite starter Dushan Ruzic brought Boss Moanaroa home from third base and Josh Dean's RBI groundout made it 2-0.
The bats of the Adelaide side were powerless against Anderson for much of Sunday night like they were against Welch two nights before. Anderson carried a perfect game into the fifth inning before it was broken up by Tom Brice's one-out double. Following a Scott Gladstone walk one batter later, however, Anderson buckled down again, retiring 11 of the last 12 men he faced and not allowing a Bite player to touch home plate.
Sydney got to Ruzic (3-1) again in the sixth when Mark Holland and Mitch Dening cracked back-to-back doubles to lead off the frame and extend the lead by a run. Moanaroa, who went 5-for-13 in the series to lift his average from .255 to .283, then singled Dening home later in the frame to make it a 4-0 advantage.
Anderson (2-1) dropped his ERA under one to 0.93 with eight sparkling innings. The lefty from Gosford struck out eight and issued just one walk in the win.
Though not a save situation, Blue Sox manager Glenn Williams went to closer Dae-Sung Koo to make sure his club exited Adelaide with an evened series. Koo pitched around a leadoff Jeremy Cresswell single and a two-out Quincy Latimore double to nail down the shutout win.
The victory marked Sydney's fifth in 12 road games, a number that ranks second among ABL teams behind Perth's six.
The ABL goes on a weeklong hiatus for the Christmas holiday, but the Blue Sox return to action on New Year's weekend when they visit Perth for the first in a pair of crucial home-and-home four-game series against the first place Heat. Sydney and Perth will hook up from 30 December through 2 January at Barbagallo Ballpark before the Sox return home for their second consecutive series against the Heat from 6-9 January at Blacktown Olympic Park.
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