(Daniel Eade is a BPL contributor and freelance journalist)

The Melbourne Aces received a rude awakening to the 2010/11 ABL season with a crushing defeat at the hands of the Adelaide Bite, 9-1, on the back of a dominant fourth innings by the Bite. The Bite drove four runs home in the fourth and put the game out of reach for the visitors in the blink of an eye as the Aces struggled to put any pressure back on the home team.

With some superb defensive pressure, the Bite were able to keep the Aces scoreless early. A flash of brilliance from Bite outfielder Daniel Wilson in the second inning stopped what appeared to be a certain run for the Aces. Wilson's pick-up and throw from deep into home-plate allowed catcher Brandon Bantz to tag out the Aces' Josh Davies who had rounded third and looked a surety to return home .

Then, with two-outs, in the third inning and the Aces having Scott Wearne on third and intent to score, Justin Huber cracked a ball down the third-baseline only to be thwarted by an amazing catch by the Bite's third-baseman Stefan Welch. The Aces leaving a player stranded in a scoring position.

Talking to the BackPageLead after the game, Aces Manager Phil Dale noted that the Bite had made some extraordinary plays in the field, especially the throw from Wilson, "That was a run if it was thrown two feet either way, that's safe. The guy came up with a great throw. They came up with some great defensive plays," said Dale.

Things turned into a horror movie for the Aces in the bottom of the fourth, already trailing 1-0, the Aces replaced starting picture Adam Blackley with Adam Bright, after Blackley walked the first two hitters.

Bright came to the mound with runners on first and second, Daniel Wilson and Bantz, then through James McOwen's ground ball to right field Wilson ran home to start a terrible five minutes for the Aces and Bright.

With Bantz advancing and itching to get home from third base for the Bite, Jeremy Cresswell stepped up to the plate and with a great hit found the space to send Bantz and McOwen in to score.

It was then night over for Bright, the Aces making another pitching change, bringing in Matthew Blackmore, the first right-hander of the night.

Blackmore got three strikes early to dismiss Quincy Latimore, but on the next at-bat, Ben Wigmore got bat to ball and sent Cresswell home and put the Aces in a massive 5-0 hole. Blackmore was able to strike out Tom Brice and then Wilson popped one up and was caught by Takahiro Ijuin at third base. The Bite leaving runners on second and third and the Aces finally catching a break.

The Aces fell behind 7-0 when finally in the eighth inning pinch hitter Andrew Tierney found himself at second base on a defensive error. Tierney then advanced to third when Andrew Russell singled to left-field, and then Huber put the ball in play with a hit, and despite the Bite getting a double-play, Tierney was able to score and put the Aces on the board.

The Bite made it 9-1 when Wigmore smacked a two-run home-run in the eighth inning and this ball game was done and dusted.

"We learned a lot from today," explained Dale, "It was a close game early on and we made critical errors which blew it out for them and then things became free and easy. The pressure was off then and they capitalised.

"Our pitching wasn't sharp early."

Adelaide's starting pitcher Paul Mildren went through seven scoreless innings and got the win. Blackley picking up the loss for the Aces.

Dale was full of praise for the man that made life tough for the Aces, "Mildren was tough tonight. He's always tough. You always know you're in for a tough battle when you come to Norwood."

Ahead of their next clash on Friday night, Dale does not see too much changing, "Not really, that's our strongest line-up. We've got a different guy on the mound, (Norihito) Kaneto, and we'll see how he goes. He's one of our more experienced Japanese pitchers. He's a little more experienced and we'll see if he can keep the runs down and see if we can get some offence."

The two teams meet again Friday night and play a double-header on Saturday.