It had been 1028 days since the Tuatara's last game at North Harbour Stadium but finally the Auckland baseball franchise returned to their diamond on Friday night and made it a game to remember.
The Tuatara marked their return to Aotearoa with a 2-1 win over the Sydney Blue Sox at home in what was their first game in New Zealand in almost three years.
The contest was tight from the outset with both offences struggling to fire against quality pitching.
The Tuatara struck first after Matt Feinstein made good on a loaded bases situation in the bottom of the third, sending a sacrifice fly to centre field with one out to score Robert Emery but in the chaos Tzu-Wei Lin was tagged out attempting to reach third base, ending the innings.
Sammy Siani then locked the scores back up with a solo home run in the top of the 5th innings - the only blemish in an otherwise strong outing from the Tuatara pitching staff which starter Kyle Glogoski spearheaded with three scoreless innings.
With the scores locked at 1-1 heading into the bottom of the sixth, Tuatara manager Steve Mintz opted to make a bold call to try and get his side an edge, telling Max Biggers to steal home with Yi Kai Wang on the mound for Sydney.
Stealing home is a rare move in baseball given how risky and difficult it is to pull off but on this occasion the play worked to perfection with Biggers able to pounce on a distracted Wang attempting a pick off at first base.
Mintz said he and Biggers had spotted the opportunity and just went for it.
“That lefty when he was going to first base, it was a slow pickoff,” Mintz said of Wang.
“So Biggers was seeing it and we put a steal on. Bigger extended his lead at third and if that guy went to first base, he was always going to go.
“Credit to him. It’s hard for me to relay that but having that baseball instinct and IQ, that helped us out right there.
“He did exactly what I wanted him to do and we got the run.”
Biggers swipe gave the Tuatara the 2-1 lead heading into the final innings which closing pitcher Oscar Nakaoshi then defended in a nervy final innings to earn himself a save and his team a win.
The win sees the Tuatara move to 5-4 on the season after starting on the road for their first campaign back in the Australian Baseball League since the Covid-19 pandemic forced them to withdraw in 2020.
The Tuatara play a double header today at 3pm and 7pm to continue the four-game series before the final match is played tomorrow at 11am.
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