Almost the perfect Canberra return for Aces recruit Kyle Perkins

Not surprising given he was a foundation Canberra Cavalry player and chalked up 172 ABL games for them since the league returned in 2010.

But he's headed south for greater opportunities behind the plate to increase his chances of being part of the Australian squad if they can qualify for next year's Tokyo Olympic Games.

It was almost the perfect return to The Fort for Perkins, driving in an Aces run in the top of the eighth to give the visitors a 4-3 lead on Boxing Day.

But a late Canberra rally ended those hopes with the home side winning game one 8-4 - although it was a good outing personally for Perkins.

He finished with one hit from his two at-bats, drove in a run and had two walks in his first return to Narrabundah since the off-season switch.

"It was interesting. I almost walked into the home dugout when I was walking out," Perkins said.

"It was fine. We're all very professional in the league and it was a personal decision to move and everybody really understands that.

"It was good to succeed a little bit as well. Having some success against your old team is always nice."

MORE CANBERRA SPORT

Australia's hoping to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics next year and Baseball Australia have told Perkins he needs to spend more time catching to increase his chances of being part of the squad.

With his brother Robbie the Cavalry catcher, it led to the 29-year-old switching to Melbourne.

He's still living in Canberra and flying in and out for games.

"There's a bunch of things that Baseball Australia's asked me to do as a player," Perkins said.

"One of them's to catch more so I took an opportunity with Melbourne to try and do that this year.

"Obviously with the hopes of it being a semi-normal season with a few more games, but we live with our decisions and I'll catch as much as I can this year and hopefully that's enough to show that I can be behind the plate for Team Australia."

Perkins was in Sydney halfway through a four-game series against the Blue Sox when the Aces had to make a mad dash home due to the coronavirus outbreak.

"It was different, obviously never experiencing that before," he said.

"You wake up the following day after game two and we're sitting there ready to play and an hour later - pretty much as you're having breakfast - we were going home.

"It's a bit strange, but these are the times we live in."

AT A GLANCE

ACES 003 000 010 4R 11H 2E

CAVALRY 110 001 05x 8R 6H 0E