Canberra's Australian Baseball League title credentials have gathered further momentum with a winning start to their series against defending champions Perth.
After finishing on the bottom of the ladder last season, the Cavalry (18-9) have surpassed all expectations to sit at the top the table two-thirds of the way through the 2012-13 edition.
And their rivals will be sitting up and taking notice following Canberra's impressive double victory against the second-placed Heat (16-12) in Perth on Friday and Saturday.
In game one, Cavalry starting pitcher Brian Grening gave up only two runs with five strike-outs across seven innings and reliever Sean Toler picked up his eighth save of the season as Canberra won a twelve-innings thriller 3-2.
Then in the second clash, Marcus Knecht drove in two runs as Canberra posted five runs in the eighth innings to score an 8-6 comeback victory and their fifth straight win.
The Heat will get the chance to even the series when they host Canberra in game three on Sunday and game four on New Year's Eve.
At Blue Sox Stadium, Sydney (17-13) dropped the first match of their round nine home series against Adelaide (13-17), but bounced back to win the next three games to stay in third spot and only two-and-a-half games behind Canberra.
James Robbins starred for Sydney, delivering the winning run in their 3-2 victory in game two and a game-winning home run in their 2-1 game-three win.
The Blue Sox defeated the Bite 4-0 in game four to pick up three consecutive wins for the first time this season thanks also to quality pitching from Craig Anderson and Tim Cox.
In Brisbane, the Bandits (14-15) kept their hopes of a first playoff berth alive by dropping only one game of their four-match series against the last-placed Melbourne (9-21).
US pitcher Chris Smith continued to prove he's one of the league's best, setting a new ABL record with fifteen strikeouts in Brisbane's 4-0 shutout win in game two.
Brisbane's pitching rotation kept Melbourne's batters in check as the Bandits outscored the Aces 15 runs to two in their three victories.
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