George Callil Hits Walkoff Winner for Bandits in Back-and-Forth Slugfest

BRISBANE, Australia — The Brisbane Bandits (4-4) walk off the Perth Heat (2-5) 10-9, courtesy of Geroge Callil, in a back-and-forth slugfest Friday at Viticon Stadium.

Brandon Herbold earned the win with a perfect ninth inning, and Brisbane (4-4) erased multiple deficits on a night that featured eight combined home runs and scoring in six of the final seven innings.

The Bandits jumped ahead early with a three-homer second inning against Tucker Smith. Sohoo Ham led off the frame with a solo shot, Callil followed with another on the very next pitch, and Dermot Fritsch later added an RBI double to make it 4-1. Robbie Perkins also doubled twice, driving in two.

But Perth clawed back immediately. Owen Cobb opened the second with a solo homer off Connor MacDonald, and Leonardo Pineda added a two-out shot in the fifth. Manuel Beltre homered in the eighth, part of a four-run inning that also included back-to-back blasts by Jake Bowey and Cayden Nicoletto, pushing the Heat ahead 9-7.

Brisbane answered in the bottom half. After a walk to Kyosuke Mashiko, Ham crushed his second homer of the night — a two-run drive off Jordan Power — to tie it at 9. The Bandits then loaded the bases in the ninth against Jai Hewitt before Rixon Wingrove’s RBI single plated the winning run.

Fritsch, Wingrove, Perkins, Ham, Callil and Mashiko all recorded multi-hit nights as Brisbane finished with 14 hits. Ham drove in three and scored twice, while Callil matched him with three RBIs.

MacDonald struck out eight over 5 2/3 innings but allowed five runs, including the early homers. Perth’s offense countered with 13 hits, led by Beltre’s two RBIs and Nicandro Aybar’s four total bases.

Herbold struck out two in the ninth to set up the walk-off. Hewitt took the loss and was charged with a blown save.

The series continues Saturday with a rescheduled doubleheader start time. The first game of the doubleheader (Game 3) will start at 11 a.m. with the second game to follow approximately at 2 p.m. Fans in Australia can tune in on Baseball +, while ABL fans in Japan and Taiwan can tune in on DAZN.