Obviously the Queensland hierarchy were strongly influenced by 'Flintoff & Dunn's' scathing report about the final game of the preliminary round last year when they staged a RIDICULOUS "run fest" against fellow certain finalists NSW.

On that occasion both teams showed scant respect for the rich history of the Claxton Shield and the game of baseball by producing some farcical statistics that must be legitimised for all time!!

In order to preserve their pitching and so as not to "tip their hand" to their likely later opponents, both teams used hitters to pitch and pitchers to hit... IT WAS A JOKE!!

OK guys, so you aren't going to take any orders from us... we can take it, but WE REPEAT, you have not done much to enhance the proud history of the Claxton Shield by a repeat of these actions and you have not shown reasonable respect for the game or the supporters of the game... or indeed to your opponents!?

We guess that the Rams will feel that their actions were justified by the fact that they won the game and finished the preliminary rounds on top of the Claxton Shield table... don't kid yourselves!

First to the mound for the Rams was David Nilsson... WHAT?
We can only imagine the disbelief among the fans at Blacktown when they realised who it was that was warming up to start for the Queenslanders!?
Surely it couldn't be the 34yo former major league hitter whose body was so "banged up" that he had to prematurely end his big league career?
Undoubtedly one of Australia's baseball legends, Nilsson took the mound for the first time in his long AMLB career... and in absolute fairness he did an excellent job!... is there nothing he can't do!?
Of course Dave has some pedigree to pitch with three brothers who were each very decent pitchers at AMLB level and he always demonstrated a strong arm from the other side of the plate!

Outfielder Adam Pearce and Ben Foster have both pitched spot appearances in recent AMLB history, but they could not be regarded as front line pitchers... although, once again, it must be said that Foster did very little wrong and we have seen worse pitching efforts than Pearce put in today!

Somewhere in between Queensland used legitimate professional pitcher Tristan Crawford, but he must have been caught up in the "circus atmosphere" because he produced a most enigmatic performance.
Crawford entertained the audience with four hits and six runs in just 2.1 innings, while somehow managing to strike out six of the seven batters he retired!?

SA showed a little more sensibility by pitching young hurlers Tristian Stevens and Daniel Redden although both took some punishment from the power-laden Queensland offence.
We can't honestly comment on Todd Langman because we know nothing about him, but could it be that SA have produced a genuine baseball "all-rounder".
Langman was listed as an outfielder on the original roster details but he did a decent job of closing this game, as well as batting 2-5 with 2 RBI's!!

On the offensive side we are thinking that Queensland has probably broken some type of record with the obscure fact that two of their pitchers also hit home runs in the same game with David Nilsson and Adam Pearce joining the prolific Paul Gonzalez among the "long bombers" today!
Pearce and young David Sutherland both had three-hit outings, while a host of other Rams also took the opportunity to groove their swings!

For SA Sam Tibbitts took his tournament tally to nine hits with four more today, while Tom Brice and Todd Langman both had two hits for the game!

OK, so maybe as "custodians" of AMLB statistics 'Flintoff & Dunn' take these types of events too seriously, but we would all do well to remember that the Claxton Shield is, at present, the pinnacle of Australian baseball competition and the quality of players in attendance makes it a truly "world class" baseball event.
We just can't think of too many other sporting competitions of this statute where this type of thing would be witnessed.
We can't wait to see Glenn McGrath open the batting in a Pura Milk Cup (nee Sheffield Shield) match for NSW!?

Anyhow, this one was not quite as blatantly embarrassing as the too often mentioned game from 2003... it's just that we would prefer all teams to play as if each game is important!

Congratulations to Queensland and SA who will compete in the semi-finals and both have a legitimate shot at glory!

Defending titleholders Queensland qualified in the top position for the semi finals when they defeated South Australia 11-8 in game 13 of the 2004 LG Claxton Shield played at Blacktown Olympic Park.

The win came on the back of an unbelievable start by the Queensland offence which slammed three homers in the top of the first inning.
A two run shot by pitcher David Nilsson followed by back to back two out solo homers by designated hitter Paul Gonzales and rightfielder Adam Pearce accounted for these runs.

South Australia produced something of a fightback in the bottom of the fifth at which point Queensland held a 10-1 lead.
A five run rally in the bottom of this inning, two batted in by catcher Sam Tibbets single and two by leftfielder Todd Langman’s single, got South Australia within striking distance.

Both team added one run in the sixth and South Australia added an eighth run in the eighth.

In a hitters game Queensland outhit South Australia 13-10, with Pearce batting 3 from 3 with 2 RBI’s and first baseman David Sutherland batting 3 from 5 with 1 RBI for Queensland.

South Australia’s Tibbets was his team’s standout batting 4 from 5 with 4 RBI’s.

Regardless of the fact that Queensland won the thirteenth game, both Queensland and South Australia advance to the semi finals scheduled for play Friday, January 23.