In a replay of the 2006 final, Game 5 of the 2007 Financial Wealth Claxton Shield saw the reigning Champions Queensland Rams take on the Victorian aces in the afternoon game at Baseball Park

True to the spirit of last year’s epic clash, both teams stuck to the ’06 script with the Victorians jumping out to an early lead and shutting down the Rams offence for the first half of the contest

But unlike their remarkable comeback effort of 12-months ago, the Rams were unable to close the gap, ultimately going down 10-1 as Victoria completed a systematic demolition of their northern rivals to go part way to avenging the heartbreaking loss a year earlier

Greg Wiltshire was handed the ball for the Aces and was simply brilliant cruising through 7 innings, allowing just 1 run on 4 hits and firmly cementing his reputation as one of the most consistent Claxon Shield pitchers in recent history

On offence, the Aces launched a balance attack with the bulk of the damage coming from Rikki Johnson (2 doubles, 2 runs), Ben Utting (3-4, 3 runs batted in) and Paul Weichard who blasted a 2-run homer in the fourth inning that left Baseball Park with nothing but a vapour trail

Victoria added to the ledger down the final stretch when Derek Shumpert unleashed on a hanging breaking ball driving deep over the left field wall to spot the Aces a 5-Run lead after 7 innings

There were few bright spots for the Rams who now will now look to resurrect their 2007 campaign against unbeaten South Australian tomorrow

Victoria, who have now squared their win-loss record at 1-1, will meet home town Perth Heat in what for the West Australians will be a must win game if they are to have any hope of reaching the tournament finals

Sports fans would not need me to remind them that there is no real way to get revenge for a devastating Championship game defeat like the one that Queensland delivered to the Victorians in the Grand Final of Claxton Shield 2006 - it doesn't mean a heck of a lot to beat them next time if the big prize is not at stake!

That said, there were some elements of revenge involved, not only for the Victorian team that badly needed the victory, but for Aces' ace pitcher Greg Wiltshire who suffered one of his few bad days on the mound in the corresponding fixture last season and those folks, are as rare as hen's teeth - or a day in Perth that is not sunny!

Wiltshire was not at his best at Blacktown in 2006 but the Victorians could not have wished for anybody better to pitch a game in which the team badly needed to re-group after a dismal showing in their opening game
No doubt the Victorian management would have had some words of stern advice for the Aces players after Saturday's loss to NSW and it appeared that Greg Wiltshire encouraged his team mates to jump on his broad back while he promised to carry them across the line - he is a man to keep his promises
His seven innings of four-hit baseball was undoubtedly the platform for Victoria's much needed win

Helping to ensure that there was no sign of a late inning melt-down (like in last year's final) were two of the same relievers from that occasion, Donavon Hendricks and Pete Moylan
Steadily maturing Donnie Hendricks was very, very sharp on this occasion with two overmatched strikeouts featuring during his one innings of late relief
Major leaguer Peter Moylan took the opportunity to loosen his arm in the final innings and, although he didn't quite crank up to full velocity, he had more than enough to slam the door closed on a combined four-hit, one run allowed, pitching dominated win for his team

22yo AMLB rookie Matthew Bates did his best to emerge from a pretty rough initiation to Australia's biggest league when he was first to face the tough Victorian hitters who clearly had a few points to prove after their opening loss
In truth Bates did not do too much wrong, but he didn't look to have quite enough stuff to keep the Aces under total control

Bates handed over to the seasoned Chris Mowday after four innings and while Chris did keep a lid on the contest, the Victorians had built a useful 4-1 lead by the time he departed after two solid innings of work

No offence to the lad, but Blake Kearney's record from the 2002 Claxton Shield when he was last seen in AMLB action indicated that he would not be an effective late replacement for the still injured major league pitcher Phil Stockman - and so it proved
The flood gates opened on Kearney when he mixed two walks with five hits in the short span of 1.2 innings as the game disappeared from the view of the Queenslanders

Future Boston Red Sox pro James Albury picked up from his promising debut in 2006 with a neat inning of work to close the game, but it hardly mattered by that time

The Aces offence that seemed to awaken near the end of their opening game came with the bats swinging again here and they hammered out eleven hits in an impressive all-round effort

31yo "veteran" Ben Utting, who is in his 13th season of AMLB, led the Aces hit parade with 3-4 and three big RBI's, followed by converted pitching star Rikki Johnston who looked every bit a life-long batter with his superb 3-4 that included two crunching doubles

Productive outfielders Paul Weichard and Derek Shumpert each bashed long home run balls and each supplied two RBI's for the Victorian cause

Both Victoria and Queensland emerged from this game with 1-1 records and the tale of their tournaments will not be told for at least a few days
Both would expect to make the semi-finals, but there are no guarantees in the Claxton Shield