Day two of the 2007 Financial Wealth Claxton Shield has seen the reigning champion Queensland Rams continue the winning streak they established with their record setting run last year, beating Australian Provincial 3-2

After home town Perth Heat were upset on the opening night of the championships going down 8-6 to Australian Provincial - the Rams were determined not to suffer the same fate - sending 2003 ‘Golden Arm’ winner John Veitch to the mound in his Claxton Shield return after a twelve-month hiatus

Veitch was outstanding for the Rams, cruising through the first 7 innings, allowing just 2 hits while failing to allow a run

2006 Australian Baseball ‘Coach of the Year’ Peter Gahan was more than pleased with his team’s first hit-out, indicating we are yet to see the best from the Queensland ball club
“Veitch was just superb today and gave us exactly what we needed for the first game of the tournament” he said
“Offensively, the hitters did just enough, but I am pretty confident they will continue to get better throughout the week”

Gahan was also upbeat about a repeat of last year’s championship run, predicting a return to the tournament finals in 2007
“I haven’t seen much from the other teams as yet, but with the personnel we have on board I would expect to see us right up there towards the end of the week” Gahan said

Australian Provincial again relied on their young pitching staff in their second game of the Championships
Tom Johanessen-Ellis and Shaun Tabrett - both members of the 2006 u/19 Australian team that toured Cuba last September - combined to set the table for the Provincials; and after some first innings nerves, the pair held the powerful Queensland offence to just three runs over the first six frames

However after a promising start Tabrett ran into trouble in the seventh - walking the bases loaded before being replaced by Matthew Timms who took over and nullified the Rams’ hitters for the rest of the way in an impressive 3-innings of relief

While the windswept conditions keep the offensive outpouring to a minimum, Queensland were happy to lean on their experienced sluggers Brett Roneberg and Andrew Utting, who were both solid performers in the middle of the line-up for the Rams

Veitch began to tire entering the eighth inning, allowing two runners to reach base before handing over to reliever PJ Bevis
Bevis - also returning to Claxton Shield competition - was unable to end the threat allowing both runners to score

The win gives Queensland their eighth consecutive Claxton Shield victory over the last two years, while the loss evens Australian Provincial’s record at 1-1

Just in case anyone may have been thinking that the Australian Provincials may have been enjoying an opening night "honeymoon period" with their new selection policy - it's time to think again folks - these kids are obviously for real!

OK, it's first blood for the Queensland Rams at Claxton Shield 2007 with their victory at Rockingham in the early game today but, as is their custom, those feisty Australian Provincials made them work all the way to the wire

I know that we have said it often enough in past seasons, maybe too often for some, but in the view of 'Flintoff and Dunn' the success of the Australian Provincials is fantastic news for the overall landscape of our famous Claxton Shield competition - we love 'em!

And, take this as gospel, Queensland showed tremendous respect for the Provincials when they rolled out what may be the cream of their pitchers in order to get their 2007 campaign off to a highly desirable flying (or at least winning) start

There can be no doubting the credentials of Veitch, Bevis and Crawford as pitchers who would be at the forefront of any bullpen in AMLB history
The fact that the Provincials were able to cobble together five hits against these prime pitchers is not a bad effort at all - especially considering that the might of the Rams offence could only produce one hit more against AP's bullpen that resembled a child minding centre!

Veitch picked up where he left off in AMLB as the 2003 Golden Arm Award winner with a near perfect 7.2 innings three-hit start when all the damage was done while he was undoubtedly tiring into the eighth dig - he was probably the MVP of today's game

Former Championship MVP P.J Bevis was not quite so dominant on this occasion when he traded his two outs for two doubles, but thankfully for him the scoreboard did him no harm

The ever more imposing Tristan Crawford was called upon to make sure that the last couple of nails were driven into the Provincials' coffin - clearly they were taking no chances with the 'YAPS' and using Crawford was a tangible show of respect

Hardly to be mentioned on the same dance sheet as the illustrious Rams' trio were Provincial pitchers Tom Ellis, Shan Tabrett and Matthew Timms who combined to allow only one more run from the talent laden Queensland offence

18yo Victorian and Seattle Mariners signing Ellis can be pretty pleased with his big league debut of four solid innings that yielded just two runs from a nervous opening frame

Young NSW and New York Mets pro Shaun Tabrett was also good in his debut game but three walks from his 2.0 innings would not have pleased him too much

Another fresh Aussie signing for the Atlanta Braves, Matthew Timms, kept Queensland off the scoreboard over the last three innings - top job!!

In a pitching dominated game, only the very top of the class, 2004 Helms Award winner, Brett Roneberg was able to register two hits for Queensland while the nearly as impressive San Diego Padres professional Tom Vincent did likewise for the Provincials - baseball usually finds a way to sort the wheat from the chaff!

This is also true for the "production crew" of Nilsson, Utting and Kleidon with a RBI each for the Rams, while Nick Kimpton plated both runs for Australia Provincial

Three runs versus two and six hits versus five - it sounds like another terrific Claxton Shield contest for me
The timing of the game at 2.00pm at Rockingham did not allow us to attend because I was at Thornlie for the 3.00pm game between Victoria and NSW
However, I have been told that this was not the greatest spectacle for the baseball purist - you just can't please everyone in baseball or any in other walk of life!

The Queensland Rams still have not lost a game since Claxton 2005 while the Aussie Provincials remain in the hunt for a first ever semi-final berth in Perth!