Canberra Cavalry chief executive Donn McMichael had a quick and simple response to Melbourne Aces manager Jon Deeble suggesting his roster included too many imports.
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Ahead of the two facing off in a four-game series this weekend, in which the Aces won three games, the prolific Cavalry offence had produced 82 runs in 12 games — 24 more than the next best.
On Melbourne's website Deeble, also the current national team coach, had a blunt reply when questioned about Canberra's offensive capabilities.
"When you've got that amount of imports on your roster, of course you're gonna hit," Deeble said.
"Add [David] Kandilas to that, add [Aaron] Sayers to that and add [Boss] Moanaroa to that and they're extremely dangerous."
The comment came just days after Melbourne recruited Major League Baseball veteran Jeremy Guthrie, who pitched for Kansas City in the 2014 World Series.
The Aces have also recruited Josh Tols from Adelaide Bite and Dushan Ruzic from Perth Heat, leading McMichael to label Deeble's comments hypocritical.
"When you've got that many import pitchers on your roster as Melbourne does it's going to be very hard to hit them," McMichael said.
A power outage in the suburbs surrounding the Melbourne Ballpark delayed game one of the series on Friday night before the Aces recorded a comfortable 5-1 win.
Melbourne then won both games on Saturday (3-0 and 7-2) before the versatile Kyle Perkins drove home the winning run in the top of the ninth to break a 1-1 deadlock and avoid the clean sweep for Canberra on Sunday.
Boss Moanaroa was again consistent for the Cavalry, with three hits extending his average to .438.
Starting pitcher Sean Guinard went four innings, giving up just one unearned run, before Tim Atherton pitched two scoreless innings.
From there the Aces didn't get a sniff as Zech Lemond claimed the win with five strikeouts in the seventh and eighth innings, before closer Steve Kent continued his perfect start to the season by striking out the side to seal the win.
Canberra slides down to equal third on the ladder with an 8-8 season record alongside Adelaide. The red-hot Melbourne (11-5) and Sydney Blue Sox (9-7) continue to set the pace.
AUSTRALIAN BASEBALL LEAGUE
Sunday
Canberra 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 - 2R 8H 1E
Melbourne 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 1R 2H 1E
