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DEFEAT in the first match of a double-header has contrasting effects on clubs in the Baseball Association of Western Province (BAWP) Major League competition.

It either deflates spirits or gets the adrenalin pumping for the task ahead.

Take match No 2 between VOB and Crusaders, which VOB won 16-1 at Kenwyn on Saturday.

Crusaders were a shadow of the enthusiastic team that succumbed 7-6 in the first match, after an outfield error denied them victory in the last inning.

They were devastated by the fact that they were 6-4 ahead on two down when Marlon Gordon's dropped catch gifted VOB three unearned runs and victory.

Grant Robertson's fine pitching effort that restricted big-hitting VOB to 11 hits and two walks were in vain. And so was Gordon's otherwise sterling outfield play and the hits of Robertson and Garth van der Vent, who both batted 2-4.

VOB, noting Crusaders' disappointment, applied pressure from the start of the second match to lead 9-0 in the second inning.

Brett Willenburg, 2-3, hit a three-run homer, while Paul Bell, 3-5, Jade Johnson, 2-2, Brett Beier and Jared Heynes, both 2-4, also troubled Crusaders' pitchers Rehan Peck and Bevan November.

VOB? veteran pitcher Glen Josephs allowed one hit and his relief Jarred Lewendal gave up four hits, with Wade Morgan, 2-3, faring best for the visitors.

At Westridge, a dropped catch by outfielder Dominic Veale also denied Westridge Yankees the opportunity to beat Thistle in both matches.

Veale's mistake that yielded three unearned runs in the seventh inning allowed Thistle to win 12-11, after Yankees won the first match 11-5.

Shaheed Sasman, who fanned six batters in Yankees' earlier win, appeared set to frustrate Thistle, after his back-up pitchers Peter Petersen and Russell Booysen shared six innings' on the mound.

The outfield error not only let down Sasman, but also Kurt van Niekerk, 2-4, and Eugene Dilgee, 2-5, whose steady batting forced Thistle to relieve Garreth Sellars with SA pitcher Gavin Jefferies in the seventh inning.

Jefferies fanned four batters to keep the hosts scoreless for three innings'.

Athlone Athletic defeated Durbanville 10-1 and 8-6, while Bellville Tygers, the defending league champions, beat newly-promoted Battswood 9-0 and 11-0 in other matches.

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