Adelaide rides three straight homers to win

Last week, Boston prospect and Adelaide Bite veteran Stefan Welch said in a promotional video for the 2015 Australian Baseball League Championship Series that his team's trip to the finals "means everything." In Friday night's ABLCS opener, he proved it.

Welch blasted the first of back-to-back-to-back home runs in the seventh inning as Adelaide stormed back to win Game 1 of the best-of-3 Championship Series, 3-2, over the visiting Perth Heat.

The Red Sox farmhand led off the seventh with his team struggling to gain any offensive traction against Heat ace Mike McClendon. On an 0-2 pitch, Welch clobbered a shot over the center field wall to get the Bite on the board. Former White Sox prospect Tom Brice followed, hammering the second pitch he saw to nearly the same spot in center. With the game level, former Boston Minor Leaguer Mitch Dening finished the comeback, blasting a solo shot of his own out to right to give the Bite all the runs they needed on the way to the win.

"That's definitely the coolest thing I've ever been a part of in baseball," Dening said. "Back-to-back-to-back home runs, to get ahead in the seventh inning, I couldn't write a better script. That's what our season's been like in a nutshell. We've been hitting the longball all year. For me to step up and do that was one of the greatest moments of my life."

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Adelaide had just three hits entering the decisive frame and trailed nearly from the outset thanks to Tim Smith's two-out homer in the first for Perth. The Heat doubled their advantage in the fourth when former Major Leaguer Rene Tosoni singled to score his former Twins teammate Luke Hughes.

The rally ensured that a solid effort by Adelaide starter Morgan Coombs didn't go to waste. Coombs allowed two runs -- one earned -- on six hits while striking out five and walking three in seven innings to earn the victory.

"You can't even control yourself," Coombs said. "That's, in my mind, the greatest thing in sports. Baseball is the best because of situations like that. It's like a fairytale script. You know you can't write stuff like that. It's indescribable, the feeling of emotion and just goosebumps."

Dodgers prospect Brandon Dixon had a hit from the leadoff spot for the Bite while Astros prospect Tyler Brunnemann closed out the victory, getting the final two outs in the ninth for the save.

McClendon, a former big leaguer with the Brewers, was saddled with the loss. The right-hander didn't record an out in the seventh inning and was charged with three runs on six hits while fanning six. He did not issue a walk.

The win puts Adelaide one victory away from South Australia's first Claxton Shield championship since 1980.

"You've got to pinch yourself a little bit," Bite manager Brooke Knight said. "McClendon was absolutely sharp all day. You're just going, 'Man, we've got to figure this guy out.' We'd hit a few balls hard the inning before and didn't have a lot to show for it. That's why you stay with it. You don't know how things can turn and those guys put some good swings on the ball.

"I'm proud of the guys but the hardest one to win is the one tomorrow."