Question - how do you give up 12 hits and win a big baseball game?...
Answer - you rack up 17 hits yourself and score a whopping 13 runs, that's how!

Once again the pre-series predictions from 'Flintoff & Dunn' had a haunting truth to them when the pitching of both teams was questioned in terms of its depth to get through the long tournament.
What helped for both teams on this occasion was that both were in a similar predicament.

With no point in saving too much for the locker room, Queensland called upon maybe its three leading pitchers to get the job done against WA and, although Paul Mutch may have allowed WA an early lead in the game, a deluge of Rams' run support was plenty for proven stars Veitch and Bevis to work with as they virtually cruised to the line.
On 2003 form, we would expect Bevis to have something left for the final, probably to back up likely starter Matt Gahan?

We did suggest that Queensland may have lacked the obvious "big dogs" starting pitchers to get through the tournament schedule but the fact that they managed to squeeze two starts and some long-relief out of John Veitch sure did help!

We also suggested that their wealth of proven hitters could carry them through to the final... it has!!

For WA's part, we expressed some doubts that they could possibly rely upon the continued heroics of Shane Tonkin and the 37yo "golden arm" of Simon Eissens?
We can only guess that WA harboured hopes of keeping an innings or two of Tonkin in reserve for the Grand Final when they used him too late in this semi-final?
Of the 'Thomases' Brendan had a couple of solid late relief outings early in the tournament but he was torched today, while Brad did not really set the world on fire.
We will continue to reserve judgement on Nick Forkin, while the experienced Michael Hodge could not get it done on this occasion.
We have no intention of writing an epitaph for evergreen Simon Eissens who looks like he can play for as long as likes, but just in case he does something crazy like retiring, it was great to see him in action again and he proved conclusively that he can still "cut it" with Australia's best!

OK, we don't expect any media awards for reading through the Queensland Rams lineup before the tournament and then coming to the conclusion that they had a tremendously dangerous offensive arsenal.

Whatever his age and recent status, the reputation David Nilsson has always spoken for itself in Australian baseball and we did warn everyone that they would soon be reminded what a rare talent Brett Roneberg is!

It always seemed likely to us that when the games got to the most serious stage players like these, along with recent major leaguer Trent Durrington and proven Paul Gonzalez, would surely come to the fore...they were all in the thick of the action during this big semi-final.

Nilsson sounded an ominous warning for their Grand Final opponent with another two home runs today, to add to his 'dinger' yesterday, while most of the Rams' hitters showed that they were ready to "bring it on".
Roneberg (two doubles) and Bayliss each banged out three hits, while Nilsson, Durrington, Gonzalez, Utting and Kleidon each enjoyed a couple of "knocks".

For their part WA could not be too disappointed with a pretty good tournament as they continue to produce some of the finest young players in Australia.
Luke Hughes (3-5) and Lachlan Dale (2-3) both enhanced their already promising reputations throughout the event and they each provided a "punctuation mark" with home runs in this semi-final.
Also continuing to impress were Clint Balgera and Stephen Tope who each had two-hit games to keep the Heelers' flag flying!

We can't wait to see if the NSW or SA pitching strength can keep the Queensland Rams hitting under control?

Queensland defeated Western Australia in today's first Semi-Final 13-5, advancing them through to the Grand Final Saturday night against NSW at 7.30pm.
Dave Nilsson hit two home runs, and was supported by a strong batting line-up.
FULL REPORT TO FOLLOW!!!!