SHOGUN Heat stalwart Ritchie Mounsey believes a semi-final tune-up against clubmates Shogun Black has his team well placed ahead of tomorrow night's first game of the Cairns Baseball League majors grand final series.
Heat blasted Shogun Black 13-3 at Trinity Bay’s Centenary Park after controversially losing an appeal to win the minor premiership and advance straight to the decider.
Heat tried to get a premiership point restored to edge ahead of Cubs A and earn a week off but instead faced Black in the semi-final.
Mounsey said the extra game time could prove beneficial.
"Even though we didn’t win (the appeal) and had to play on Sunday the good thing was we got them out rather cheaply in seven innings,’’ he said.
"Most of our guys had five turns at bat, whereas if you were minor premiers, the best thing to do was to come down to training on Sunday.
"There’s nothing like the live at bats, so we’ll look it that way.’’
Heat’s major concern is its pitching depth.
Azuma Uno pitched three innings before Brett Roneberg took over for the final four innings.
Mounsey said the team would have to be careful not to rely too heavily on Uno.
"Because he’s under-18 he’s limited to 100 pitches (a game) so we really need to stretch him out,’’ he said.
The second game of the series is on Sunday while the final will be on Friday week, if it is needed.
Tomorrow’s match starts at 7pm.
