From the Baseball Queensland web site--

Monday 8th January 2007

Claxton Shield Team to play USA College Team

The Claxton Shield team will warm up for the campaign in Perth by playing California Lutheran University Baseball Team in four games

These games will be used by Coach Peter Gahan to brush off the Christmas and New Year cobwebs and get ready for the Claxton Shield Series

The trial games will be:-
---Wednesday January 10th
------Double header at Pine Rivers Rapids Francis Road Bray Park - doubleheader commencing at 6.30pm
---Thursday January 11th
------One game at Mudgeeraba Baseball Club Somerset Drive Mudgeeraba - commencing at 7.00pm
---Saturday January 13th
------One game at Windsor Royals, Market Street, Newmarket - commencing at 7.30pm

The players would appreciate your support, so get out there and see what they will be doing to New South Wales, Victoria, etc, later this month!!

If you can't get to Perth for the Claxton Shield, then this is the next best thing!!

(click on the above logo to go to the University's Official Web Site)

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (Jan. 3, 2007)

Kingsmen Head Down Under
CLU baseball travels to Australia for eight-game trip

Uniforms are clean, gloves are re-laced, cleats are worn in, bats are sticky with pine-tar and helmets are shiny and new for another season of baseball at California Lutheran University
The Kingsmen have passports ready to be stamped and bags packed as they travel half way around the world to open up the 2007 season

Twenty Kingsmen players and two coaches will make the journey

Cal Lutheran will face some of the top teams and athletes in Australia over eight games scheduled to be played during a ten-day trip to New South Wales and Queensland, Australia

The schedule will feature three games against a team from New South Wales Claxton Shield, four games against a team from Queensland Claxton Shield and a single game against a regional team from the Redlands Baseball fields

CLU will play the NSW Patriots on Jan. 6, 7 and 8 at Blacktown Olympic Park
Jan. 9 Cal Lutheran will play the Redlands regional team

From there the Kingsmen contingency will travel to Queensland to play the QLD Rams on Jan. 10 (doubleheader), 11 and 13 at three different locations

The team will have a number of opportunities to experience Australian culture and visit some of the most historic sites the country has to offer including a Sydney Harbour Tour, time at Paddy’s Market and Circular Quay where they will see the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge
They will also visit Steve Irwin’s Australian Zoo in Queensland and have an opportunity to visit some of Australia’s beautiful beaches

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA (Jan. 9, 2007)

Competitive Games Open Trip to Australia
CLU baseball plays first four games of eight game trip

The Kingsmen baseball team barely had a chance to unpack before they took the field in Australia

After a long journey the Kingsmen played a tight opening game, falling 4-2 to the New South Wales Claxton Shield National Team
Senior pitcher Josh Gagne got things started with three strong innings, not allowing a run
Sean Abele came in from the bullpen to throw three more scoreless innings for CLU
Offensively, Steven Page had two hits from the left side of the plate as the designated hitter

Game two wasn’t quite as close as the first, as the Kingsmen fell by a score of 15-3 to the same NSW Patriots team
Freshman second baseman Landon Smith started off his collegiate career going 2-4 at the plate with a double and an RBI
Trevor Davidson, a junior transfer (College of the Canyons) roamed right field and added a double and an RBI in the game
CLU starting pitcher, Mike Roe, went 3 innings, allowing no runs

In game three, Cal Lu picked up its first win of the trip as they defeated the NSW Patriots 7-6 in 10 innings
Offensively, Page had three hits and D.J. Milonas and Justin Bogoyevac both added two hits apiece
Josh Gagne earned the win in relief, pitching the final 4 innings, allowing one run
Brett Urie singled home Davidson with what proved to be the game winning run with two outs in the 10th innings

Game four was another tight contest, but CLU fell short, 6-5, to the Redlands Baseball Club
Milonas had two hits and scored twice while Urie and Page added RBI doubles

CLU will re-pack its bags and travel to Brisbane, Australia before next suiting up
The Kingsmen will play a doubleheader vs Queensland Claxton Shield National Team on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2007

Was a scheduled double header, but we played just one-and-a-half games yesterday
Halfway through the second game some of the lights blew out!!

But it was a bit of a blessing - we were 'beating the crap' out of this team - they weren't too good tonight!!

Here are my at-bats during the games:-
------------Walk
------------Line out to shortstop
------------Ground ball to first base
------------Pop out to catcher
------------Single to rightfield
------------Double to leftfield
------------Walk
------------Ground ball to first base

Didn't feel very good being my first game with live pitching but I did feel a little better with each at bat though

Have to see how tonight goes
And make sure I stay back!! - was going forward a little

More tomorrow

My third game against the College team was 'okay' again

But it's a bit of a waste here playing against these guys
I am getting pitched to at about 75mph and haven't seen a decent fastball since I have been here

I am hoping for some good live batting practise next week against our own guys

Here are my at-bats during the game:-
------------Hard ground ball to second base and out 4-3
------------Single to centrefield
------------Fly out to rightfield
------------Line out to leftfield

It's not bad - but I still need more work against some better pitchers!!

Will see how tonight goes in the final game

Seeya

The last game I played was Saturday night against the USA College team

It was 'okay'
I still need more practise but yesterday's live batting practise was really good and I got more out of that than I did the four games that I have played here!!

My at-bats during the game:-
------------Walk
------------Base hit to rightfield
------------Line out to second base
------------Grounded into a "4-6-3" double play
------------Fly out to deep centrefield

Not too bad overall

We have our last live batting practise today and then I fly out tomorrow morning

The next email will be tomorrow from Perth
We have a team workouts, and then the first game for Queensland is on Saturday

Bye