Returning to Thornlie’s Empire Ballpark, the Perth Heat squandered an early lead against the Adelaide Giants on January 28.
Tampa Bay Rays prospect Ford Proctor claimed his third home run of the season in the first inning, as the Texan put Perth on top 1-0.
That became 2-0, when catcher Alex Hall nailed his first homer of the season in the bottom of the second.
After starting off slowly, the Giants opened their account in the fourth before notching up two more runs in the fifth.
Despite hits late in the game from Proctor, Tim Kennelly and Robbie Glendinning, none of them turned into runs.
In the end, the Giants did more than enough to secure a 5-2 victory and a 1-0 lead in the series.
A five-run eighth inning saw Perth celebrate a spectacular 8-6 win over Adelaide on Friday night.
In front of a strong crowd of 1480 people, Beau Sulser and Warwick Saupold produced stand-out pitching for the home side.
Abiezel Ramirez put the Heat in front 1-0, before the Giants came back to claim a 2-1 lead in the third.
Perth took back the lead in the bottom of the fifth, thanks to a triple from Ramirez that saw Grant Witherspoon get home.
Teammate Jake Bowey put a ball up far enough to give Ramirez time to get home and put the Heat up 3-2.
Three consecutive hits off Saupold allowed for two runs, which put the visitors up 4-3.
The Heat’s brilliant eighth inning began with hits from Ulrich Bojarski and Jess Williams, followed by a double from Shane Sasaki.
A strong hit from Ford Proctor allowed Sasaki to score.
Robbie Glendinning then stepped up for the only home run of the game, and his third of the season, to make it 7-4.
Perth ended the inning leading 8-4, with Witherspoon scoring again thanks to another hit from Bowey.
The home side held on to secure a gutsy 8-6 win, levelling the series up at one game each.
Perth and Adelaide split their final night of action with a win apiece in Saturday’s double-header.
The Heat delivered an impressive showing first up, with Proctor scoring four times and Jacob Lopez delivering an excellent performance.
The runs racked up for Perth along the way, starting with two in the opening inning.
The home side went up 3-0 later on, before scoring another two runs in the bottom of the fifth.
After hitting two more runs, the Heat went on to celebrate a 7-1 victory and 2-1 series lead.
Adelaide prevailed in the second game to leave the series tied at two games apiece, with one round of the regular season remaining.
Efforts from Proctor, Glendinning, and Ramirez guided Perth to a handy 6-0 lead after the first two innings.
The Giants nabbed a couple of runs in the third, but the Heat remained in control and led 6-2 heading into the sixth.
Adelaide recovered to score four runs in the sixth and one more in the seventh, before sealing the deal and winning 7-6.
The Heat will soon be hosting league-leaders Melbourne, and will need to win all-four matches to claim first place.
