He's a one-stop shop, makes the pitchers sob, he's a sweet slugging, clutch hitting "Kandi" man.
The tune of Christina Aguilera's Candy Man was rife in the minds of Canberra Cavalry fans after a clutch performance from David Kandilas gifted the hosts a 3-1 series win over the Melbourne Aces.
The Cavalry surrendered a five-run lead but Kandilas stepped up with two clutch RBI [runs batted in] at the bottom of the eighth to claim a 7-5 victory over the Aces at Narrabundah Ballpark on Sunday.
Cavalry manager Michael Collins wasn't expecting much different from the ABL's RBI leader, who is desperate to claim his maiden ABL championship.
"He's been awesome all year, he's come up with a bunch of big hits for us," Collins said.
"[This] was a very, very big one for us right there just with the way the game was going. We had our closer out there on the mound so for him to give our closer those runs was big.
"Credit to Melbourne, they're a good team and they did well. But credit to our guys for sticking with it, to come back and answer straight away like that was awesome."
Canberra's starting pitcher Frank Gailey turned in another epic performance, controlling the game through six innings.
But Melbourne gun Delmon Young took advantage of reliever Tayler Saucedo to hit a grand slam in the eighth to tie the game at 5-5, before Kandilas won back the advantage.
Collins says Gailey was dominant but saw a chance to throw some other pitchers into the contest in a move that could work out to be a case of short-term pain for long-term gain.
"He could have continued in the game easily but we had a couple of guys that hadn't pitched yet that needed to get out there and get amongst it so we wanted to get those guys in there," Collins said.
Canberra set a ballpark record of 17 runs on 20 hits on Thursday and backed it up with a stunning 14 runs from 15 hits in game two a day later.
Melbourne bounced back to win game three but Collins says the effects of a remarkable Canberra onslaught could be huge at this point of the season.
"We've always said hitting is contagious," Collins said.
"Once we got on top of them it just seemed to catch fire through the team and they didn't let up which was very nice. It's certainly not something you can count on but awesome to watch and fun for the guys.
"Obviously winning a series against a tough team like Melbourne is awesome. It's a big pick up for us heading into the final week before the Christmas break.
"It's a tough team and very happy with the weekend's results."
The Cavalry now turn their attention to a series against the firing Perth Heat beginning at Narrabundah Ballpark on Thursday night.
