BASEBALL
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Illawarra baseball heavyweights Northern Pirates and Wests Cardinals meet for the first time this season in Saturday's round-seven clash at Dalton Park.
Cardinals are coming off a 6-3 win over Dapto Chiefs, while Pirates haven't played for three weeks following the bye last weekend and a washout in round five.
With a stop-start beginning to the season, all clubs are still finding their best combination and most teams have used three to four pitchers each game.
Cardinals trailed 3-2 in the eighth inning against Dapto Chiefs last Saturday, but four runs in the bottom of the inning - all due to to Chiefs errors - ensured a Cards win.
Jeremy Bec and Lee Vlasoff combined for five RBIs and four of Cardinals' nine hits overall in a critical contribution.
In Saturday's other round-seven first grade game, Berkeley Eagles host Chiefs at Eagles Field.
Eagles were almost perfect in keeping Shoalhaven Mariners hitless in a 5-0 victory last Saturday.
Eagles starting pitcher Luke Brown threw six hitless innings, while Shannon Crilly in relief threw three perfect innings.
Neither Eagles pitcher gave up a walk, while Chad Blanch went 3/3 in the batting box for Berkeley, including a home run plus five assists.