1997–98 Sydney Storm season

1997–98 Sydney Storm season

Season: 1997–98 Australian Baseball League season
Team Details
League	Australian Baseball League
City	Sydney, New South Wales
Ballpark	Concord Oval
← 1996–97 1998–99 →

The 1997-98 Sydney Storm season was the 6th season for the team, but first season known as the Storm. As was the case for the Franchises previous seasons they competed in the Australian Baseball League (ABL).

Offseason

During the offseason the franchise changed its name from the Sydney Blues to the Sydney Storm, This was done as a result of legal action taken by Cricket NSW, Who also used the name Blues for its teams.

Regular season

Standings

Key

†	Clinched final berth

1997-98 regular season standings

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Melbourne Monarchs^†	32	20	.615	–	–	–
Sydney Storm^†	32	22	.593	1	–	–
Melbourne Reds^†	30	21	.588	1^1⁄2	–	–
Gold Coast Cougars^†	31	22	.585	1^1⁄2	–	–
Perth Heat	30	23	.566	2^1⁄2	–	–
Adelaide Giants	26	27	.491	6^1⁄2	–	–
Brisbane Bandits	20	33	.333	12^1⁄2	–	–
Hunter Eagles	10	43	.189	22^1⁄2	–	–

Record vs opponents

Opponent	W–L Record	Largest Victory			Largest Defeat			Current Streak
		Score	Date	Ground	Score	Date	Ground
Adelaide Giants	5–3	6–3	Game 16	Norwood Oval	4 Runs (2)			L1
Brisbane Bandits	5–2	23–9	Game 33	Concord Oval	1–6	Game 48	ANZ Stadium	L2
Gold Coast Cougars	1–6	12–7	Game 52	Concord Oval	7–15	17 January 1998	Carrara Oval	W1
Hunter Eagles	9–1	14–3	10 January 1998	Concord Oval	4–6	Game 27	Marathon Stadium	W5
Melbourne Monarchs	5–3	18–5	7 December 1997	Concord Oval	4–8	6 December 1997	Concord Oval	W1
Melbourne Reds	4–2	8–4	5 January 1998	Moorabbin Oval	4–13	1 February 1998	Concord Oval	L1
Perth Heat	3–5	5-1 & 9-5	15 November 1997	WACA	3–10	8 November 1997	Concord Oval	L2
Total	32–22	Brisbane Bandits			Melbourne Reds			W2
		23–9	Game 33	Concord Oval	4–13	1 February 1998	Concord Oval

Game log

W	Storm win
L	Storm loss
T	Storm tie
	Game postponed
Bold	Storm team member

1997-98 Game Log
November # Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Crowd Record Ref 1 1 November (DH 1) Eagles 11–10 1-0 2 1 November (DH 2) Eagles 5–3 2-0 3 2 November (DH 1) Eagles Re-Scheduled 2-0 4 2 November (DH 2) Eagles Re-Scheduled 2-0 5 7 November (DH 1) @ Heat 5–3 3-0 [1] 6 7 November (DH 2) @ Heat 2-3 3-1 [1] 7 8 November (DH 1) @ Heat 3-10 3-2 [1] 8 8 November (DH 2) @ Heat 1-4 3-3 [1] 9 15 November (DH 1) Heat 5-1 4-3 [2] 10 15 November (DH 2) Heat 9-5 5-3 [2] 11 16 November (DH 1) Heat 3-4 5-4 [2] 12 16 November (DH 2) Heat 7-11 5-5 [2] 13 @ Giants 1–5 5-6 14 @ Giants 3–2 6-6 15 @ Giants 5–2 7-6 16 @ Giants 6–3 8-6 17 Giants 6–5 9-6 18 Giants 1–4 9-7 19 Giants 8–7 10-7 20 Giants 2–6 10-8
December # Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Crowd Record Ref 21 5 December Monarchs 3-2 11-8 22 6 December (DH 1) Monarchs 6-5 12-8 23 6 December (DH 2) Monarchs 4-8 12-9 24 7 December Monarchs 18-5 13-9 25 @ Eagles 8–5 14-9 26 @ Eagles 4–1 15-9 27 @ Eagles 4–6 15-10 28 @ Eagles Wash Out 15-10 29 19 December @ Monarchs 5-3 16-10 30 20 December (DH 1) @ Monarchs 3-6 16-11 31 20 December (DH 2) @ Monarchs 0-1 16-12 32 21 December @ Monarchs 6–5 17-12 33 Bandits 23–9 18-12 34 Bandits 3–2 19-12 35 Bandits 10–0 20-12 36 Bandits 10–7 21-12
January # Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Crowd Record Ref 37 3 January @ Reds 4-1 22-12 38 4 January @ Reds 1-10 22-13 39 5 January @ Reds 8-4 23-13 3 Eagles 17-14 24-13 40 9 January Eagles 10-3 25-13 41 10 January Eagles 14-3 26-13 42 11 January Eagles 10-3 27-13 43 16 January @ Cougars 12-17 27-14 44 17 January (DH 2) @ Cougars 2-7 27-15 45 17 January (DH 2) @ Cougars 7-15 27-16 46 18 January @ Cougars 8-10 27-17 47 @ Bandits 3-2 28-17 48 @ Bandits 1-6 28-18 49 @ Bandits 1-2 28-19 50 Cougars 3-9 28-20 51 Cougars 5-8 28-21 52 Cougars 12-7 29-21 53 31 January Reds 14–11 30-21
February # Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Crowd Record Ref 54 1 February Reds 4–13 30-22 55 2 February Reds 10-9 31-22 4 Eagles 11-5 32-22

Postseason

Finals Series at Melbourne Ballpark

In previous years the post season was played as home and away best of 3 games, with the two winner of each series meeting for a best of 5 series{fact}, in 1997-98 this was changed to a round robin play-off format with each team playing 3 games, 1 against each of the other 3 qualified teams, with the two highest places teams playing off in the Championship Series.^[3]

All games for the 9th ABL title were played at the Melbourne Ballpark from February, 10-12 with the best of three championship series February 14–15.^[3]

Finals Series (Storm games)

Full series results

Game 2: 10 February 1998

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Melbourne Reds	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	18	?	?
Sydney Storm	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	5	?	?
WP: ? (1-0)   LP: ? (0-1)   Sv: ? Home runs: Reds: ? Storm: ?

Game 3: 11 February 1998

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Melbourne Monarchs	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	1	?	?
Sydney Storm	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	5	?	?
WP: ? (1-0)   LP: ? (0-1)   Sv: ? Home runs: Monarchs: ? Storm: ?

Game 5: 12 February 1998

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Sydney Storm	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	6	?	?
Gold Coast Cougars	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	8	?	?
WP: ? (1-0)   LP: ? (0-1)   Sv: ? Home runs: Storm: ? Cougars: ?

Postseason Ladder

Key

†	Clinched Championship series berth

1997-98 postseason season standings

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	For	Against
Melbourne Reds^†	2	1	.667	-	25	18
Gold Coast Cougars^†	2	1	.667	-	16	13
Melbourne Monarchs	1	2	.333	1	18	17
Sydney Storm	1	2	.333	1	16	27

ABL awards

Award	Name	Stat	ref
Most Valuable Player	Brendan Kingman
Golden Glove	Glenn Williams
Batting Award	Brendan Kingman
Rookie of the Year	Rodney Van Buizen

All-stars

Position	Name	ref
Catcher	Gary White
Designated Hitter	Brendan Kingman

Storm Awards

Award	Name	Stat	ref

Roster

Sydney Storm roster - 1997–98 ABL
Active roster
Pitchers Right-handed pitchers ? Grant Balfour 27 John Boothby 7 Graham Cassel 28 Brent Iddon Left-handed pitchers 11 Shane Pepper		Catchers 15 Gary White Infielders 19 Mark Shipley 43 Craig Stone 4 Scott Tunkin ? Rodney van Buizen 18 Glenn Williams Outfielders 3 Matt Everingham 22 Brendan Kingman 23 Jeff Maloney 30 Will Skett
Current as of February 1998. Incomplete

References

1. "Round 2: PERTH HEAT vs SYDNEY STORM". Perth Heat. Archived from the original on May 6, 1999. Retrieved 25 November 2012.
2. "Round 2: SYDNEY STORM vs PERTH HEAT". Perth Heat. Archived from the original on May 6, 1999. Retrieved 25 November 2012.
3. "FAI Cup Pitches new finals format and all star competition as baseball bats up for the summer of 1997/1998.". Press Release. Australian Baseball League. Archived from the original on June 30, 1998. Retrieved 19 November 2012.