Following the club's AGM, we are proud to announce the return of Jason Moir to the position of Club Coach.

Please stay tuned for more details on team trials, which will be held throughout March.

Contact us here.

In a nail-biting finale, the SUBC Cynics have taken out the coveted 2014 Australian University Games title!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Following easy victories over both La Trobe University (13-1) and the University of Western Australia (13-2), a close win against Newcastle University (4-3), and a difficult loss to Melbourne (4-7) in the round stages of the tournament, the Cynics made their way to the play-offs in good stead.

Quarter Final

Meeting RMIT in the Quarter Final, the Cynics found no easy path around their opposition. Lachlan Hodge provided outstanding defence on the mound (albeit not helped by a dusty bunch of gents behind him), with Alex Cobb providing solid relief for Hodge. Following a tough battle the Cynics eventually defeated RMIT 4-3 in what was a very tough game.

Semi Final

Opening the pitching, Kevin Reagan showed his stars and stripes, quickly putting Newcastle in their place. Unfortunately, the Novacastrians eventually found their bats and took to the ball with great gusto. Ivan Turnbull took the mound to relieve Reagan, bringing with him a handful of knuckleballs. Newcastle found themselves flummoxed by I.T. Dickey and his off-speed. However, the Cynics were still not in a winning position.

Coming into the bottom of the last, the score was drawn at 6 runs a piece.

Ground out - one out.

Turnbull makes it to base on a hit, steals second.

Fly out - two out.

Kevin Reagan (6' 7", 235 lbs) comes to the plate with the winning runner at second. Reagan is intentionally walked.

Two out.

Jasper Odgers comes to the plate hitting .000 for the day.

Odgers hits a walk-off home run to secure victory for the Cynics, making them champions of NSW and putting them into the Gold Medal match the following day.

Grand Final

In true Cynics style, the team rolled up to the field more than a little worse for wear, having adequately celebrated their clutch win over Newcastle the day before. Emulating the previous day's routine so as not to disappoint the baseball gods, certain Cynics made sure to forget their cleats, with all players donning their unwashed socks from the day before. Soft-toss BP, engineered by the veteran Ivan Turnbull, was now the cornerstone of the Cynics' warm-up routine having provided two great victories in the days before.

Jasper Odgers opened the pitching with tremendous run support from his offensive team - as well as an astounding catch from the ever-remarkable David Gray in left field. The Cynics took an early lead scoring two in the first, one in the second, then forcing the end of an inning through mercy by scoring seven runs against Monash's struggling defence. However, things began to tighten up in the middle innings. The Cynics conceded several runs while finding themselves unable to manufacture any runs from Monash's new pitcher.

Having hit the same player twice (chants of "plug him, plug him" and "pitcher's a champion" could be heard from the crowd...), Odgers was relieved by Alex Cobb in the fifth to save him being ejected from the game. Quietening the Monash batting line-up and swaying the umpire's favour, Cobb brought impetus back to the Cynics. After a spirited speech from Tatonka, the Cynics were able to again find the key to the batter's box, scoring several more runs to bring their run count up to a solid 15.

With two innings remaining victory was within sight, but not yet reached. Monash continued to fight throughout the 6th and 7th innings, putting pressure on the Cynics to defend their lead. Outstanding fielding and pitching quelled the Victorians' last ditch attempts to win back the lead, with David Gray making yet another incredible diving play in left field to save multiple runs from scoring.

Despite the pressure of runners in scoring positions, Cobb maintained a cool head to win a long battle and strike out the last batter of the game, bringing the Cynics to a glorious, 15-10 victory over Monash University.

As the winning team sprinted from each corner of the diamond to gather in celebration, the crowd erupted in support for the Cynics.

In the awards ceremony that followed the completion of the game, the Cynics were crowned champions of Australian University Games Baseball for another year, with Anthony Palmer and Jasper Odgers being awarded places in the AUG national team.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Cynics would like to thank their supporters throughout the week:

Mr Odgers, Ms Kemp, Mr Wells, Mr and Mrs Cobb, Mr Smith, and Mr Liddle - your support was greatly appreciated.

All the lovely ladies of the Softball Team - the yin to our yang!

(also the UWA and Griffith baseball teams whose ch(j)eering of Monash during the Grand Final was greatly appreciated)

Finally, Jasper Odgers would like to thank his long-standing partners in AUGs crime, David Gray and Ivan Turnbull.

2014 marks the fourth Gold for the Cynics at the Australian University Games in 8 years, following victories in 2007, 2009 and 2010.

 
Club Championship 4th place
 
1st grade – finished in 5th position.
The last game of the regular season saw our 1st grade team drop out of final 4 contention, narrowly being pipped – by 0.6% !- into 5th position for the year. This was a tough result given how close games were during the year. Marrickville went on to win the premiership beating Hawkesbury 4-1.
 
2nd grade – finished in 3rd position.
Our 2nd grade team, the defending champion, finished the minor round in 3rd position, and was then knocked out of contention with a surprise 9-0 loss against 4th placed Hawkesbury in the semi-final. This result really shows how important it is to finish in the top 2 in any competition. The game started with a nervous 1st inning in which a number of our errors let the opposition get off to a flying start, plating 3 runs.  From there, we were not able to regain composure, and the expected high quality play did not flow from our players. The Hawkesbury team played very well and were aggressive from the start, hitting well at the right moments of the game. Because the semi-finals were washed out, Hawkesbury did not progress further, and Petersham won the grand final, beating Marrickville 9-0.
 
3rd grade – Minor Premiers. Finished in 3rd position after finals series.
The 3rd grade team was unable to continue its winning ways losing the preliminary final 9-3 to a Petersham team which found sparkling form in that first final. The good form we’d seen through the season - which gave this team the top position on the ladder - deserted it during the finals.  Because it was the Minor Premier, our team had a second chance but failed to capitalise on the opportunity, losing 6-4 to Hawkesbury in a rain truncated game. Hawkesbury went on to beat Petersham 7-1 in the grand final.
 
4th grade –
The 4th grade team in the Pacific Coast league really built on its strengths, skills, and concentration during the season. While the team ended in 3rd place, it was just 1 game behind the 1st placed team, Greenway. The final game of the season saw an emphatic 15-9 win against Greenway, being its second defeat of the top team for the season. The semi-final against the second placed team, West Sydney Boomers, was close fought, but we lost 4-3, after letting in early runs and running out of time chasing. The grand final was a washout giving Greenway the gold medal due to its Minor Premiership position. This had been a very close season and the learning from this year is that early games have to be won to provide that small buffer at the end of the season.
 
 
For any further information email baseball@sport.usyd.edu.au

1st Grade - 2013 SWBL GF