Extra innings and a clutch hit off the bat of Allan de San Miguel in the top of the tenth led Perth Heat to a 5-3 win over the Adelaide Bite on Saturday night to force a third and deciding game in the Australian Baseball League Championship Series.
Adelaide had won the opening game on Friday night 3-2.
De San Miguel delivered the big hit for the Heat in the top of the tenth inning, hitting a two-run double off Bite reliever Will Mathis with two runners on and two outs.
"I had a conversation with him before his at bat and he said if [Mathis] leaves something up, he's going to crush something and he sure did," Heat manager Steve Fish said.
"You could just tell, [de San Miguel] was ready to go from his last at bat against Matt Williams, and he got a pitch to hit and crushed."
Adelaide struck first, scoring one run in the bottom of the first inning on a Stefan Welch solo shot.
However, Perth jumped ahead in the top of the third on back-to-back solo shots from Matt Kennelly and Brian Pointer. The Heat added another run in the top of the seventh inning on an RBI single off the bat of Joey Wong, building a 3-1 lead late in the game.
The bottom of the seventh once again was good to the Bite, with the home crowd at Norwood Oval erupting as a solo shot from Chris Adamson evened the score with two frames remaining.
But strong defensive plays and quality pitching from both sides in the late innings saw the game all tied up heading into the ninth.
A clutch double play turned by Chan Moon in the top of the ninth kept the Heat from scoring, but Perth closer Jorge Marban held the Bite at bay until de San Miguel's heroics.
"I had hit a few balls hard earlier in the day, and I was just looking for something out over the plate again. I got my fastball and made sure I didn't miss it," de San Miguel said.
The Perth win pushed the series to a deciding third game at the same venue on Sunday night.
"There's nothing wrong with game three, it makes it extra special when you get the job done," Bite manager Brooke Knight said.
"We've been in this situation a lot so we know what it takes to win and us veteran guys have done really well in making sure we have an even keel," de San Miguel said.
"We've got the team and the staff to win another championship."
They are chasing South Australia's first Claxton Shield victory since 1980.
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