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The Victorian Aces defeated the New South Wales Patriots 3-2 in the Semi Final of the 2006 Financial Wealth Claxton Shield tonight at Blacktown Olympic Park in Sydney

In what proved to be the most controversial game of the 2006 tournament, the Victorian Aces defeated the home crowd favourites in the final inning after a controversial decision was made at the plate

What started out to be an average ball game certainly ended in heartbreak for the New South Wales Patriots, who lead the ballgame 3-1 until the final minutes of the nine inning game

The game remained scoreless until the third inning when Patriots catcher Andrew Graham hit a double to centre field that was supported by a single RBI from Trent Oeltjen to bring Graham across the plate and give NSW the lead 1-0

The Victorians were quick to level the scores, adding their first run to the board in the bottom of the fifth inning off a double to left field from Daniel Berg that was batted in off a single RBI from Ben Utting

New South Wales took the lead again in the eighth inning after a strong offensive effort saw Mark Holland reach the plate off an RBI from Gavin Fingleson

The Aces certainly had fate on their side in the bottom of ninth inning when the game stood at 2-1 in New South Wales’ favour, with two out, a runner on second and Ben Utting at the plate
The pitch count stood at two balls two strikes
On the next pitch, Utting ‘considered’ swinging at the ball, taking the bat almost full distance across the plate, in what many people considered to look like a strike
The crowd went wild, the New South Wales players started to make their way in to the dugout and the pitcher was leaving the mound, when umpire Bret Robson called the pitch a ball
Disbelief roared through the crowd and tempers flew both on and off the field

Patriots pitcher Matthew Bennett returned to the mound and continued the game

Utting swung at the next pitch for a foul ball, but connected with the second pitch Bennett delivered, sending the ball clear into right field for a double, bringing home Berg and levelling the scores

Paul Rutgers was next in the Victorian line up, and with Utting on second base, hit a single to center field that brought Ben Utting home to take the ball game and secure a place in the 2006 Financial Wealth Claxton Shield Grand Final against Queensland

There was an intense feeling of disbelief generating from the home crowd, resulting in an uproar that sent the umpire straight off the field to the locker room

Patriots Head Coach Shane Barclay was extremely angry about the umpire’s call in the ninth inning, a decision, which if deemed incorrect, ultimately cost the Patriots the ball game

Barclay was quick to make his way to the umpire lockers to express his resentment towards umpire Robson and when asked to comment on his feelings about tonight’s game, Barclay simply said “Ask the Umpire”

Patriots Assistant Coach Graeme Cassell was a little more forthcoming with his comments
“Overall it is one of the best games of baseball I have ever been involved in
The score was 3-2,and usually in a low scoring game such as this it is a pitcher’s game, but this game was just a lot of great defence”

When questioned about his team’s performance, Cassells said he couldn’t take anything away from his team in tonight’s game
“We have been great all week and we were great tonight
We have eight new players due to injuries and retirement and all the younger guys really came through”

Cassells also commented on the performance of Victorian short stop Brad Harman, referring to his performance as ‘wow’
“Harman was just wow at short stop. He got every play a short stop can get”

Winning Coach David White was relieved with the win and looks forward to facing Queensland tomorrow night in the grand final at 7.30pm
“I am excited about the win
It is great to have another shot a the title again after going down to New South Wales last year in the Grand Final, so this victory is sweet”

When asked about his oppositions performance, White respectfully gave the Patriots the credit they deserved
“The New South Wales pitching was excellent
They had some great hits and the team was solid
Gavin Fingleson was magic at the plate”

Despite the controversy and the intervention of fate, White feels his team deserved to win
“We had a great game
Our pitchers Simon Beresford, Kyle Edlich, Brendan Wilson and Adam Bright were amazing
We ran out of pitchers and these guys really stepped up to the plate
Ben Utting’s last at bat was fantastic, probably his best at bat in a long time
It is amazing what adrenalin can do
We should have opened up the game in the seventh inning
We had loaded bases and couldn’t get the guys in
New South Wales went on to score in the next inning
So basically we asked the guys to lift their game and they did”

White is not too anxious about his opposition in tomorrow night’s game but congratulated his rivals on their performance to date
“Queensland is hitting well and has gone through undefeated
They have improved dramatically since last year and are the favourites to win it, but I honestly think we want it more than them”

Victoria will compete in the Grand final game against Queensland tomorrow night at Blacktown Olympic Park for game eighteen of the 2006 Financial Wealth Claxton Shield