The NSW Patriots strolled past a pedestrian Queensland side in the battle for top billing heading into tomorrow’s Semi-Finals, beating the Rams 9-3 in the last game before the 2007 Financial Wealth Claxton Shield Playoffs

With both teams having already qualified for the next round, the only question remaining was which teams would make up the minor placings
A win would see Queensland finish first, while a loss would relegate them to third place and a date with South Australia in the elimination semi-final

To their credit, the relentless NSW offence made sure that it was the latter, as they scored eight times over the first three innings to remove any form of resistance from a Queensland side that had easily accounted for their opponents over the last two days

Six different Patriots recorded an RBI in the game and all nine starters hit safely, with some unexpected help coming via the NSW’s eight and nine hitters, Josh Dean and Michael Lysaught, who each registered extra-base hits and multiple RBI’s
Lysaught’s solo blast in the fifth inning was an interesting highlight for NSW, as the righthander drove a 2-1 offering 335.25 feet over the 335 foot wall - evident by the ball hitting the top of the fence on the way down

But he wasn’t the only one to take advantage of the Queensland hurlers, with the Patriots’ dynamic duo Gavin Fingleson and Glenn Williams having a field day and finishing a combined 5 for 10, with 3 RBI's

On the hill, left hander Andrew Cook made amends for a poor outing earlier in the tournament by firing a highly efficient 4 innings, allowing just 3 hits and 1 run while striking out 4

He was provided excellent support from Claxton Shield rookie Aidan Francis who pitched the final six frames and limited the normally viscous Rams hitters to just two runs the rest of the way and earning his maiden Shield victory in the process

Queensland Manager Peter Gahan will now be expected to rally his troops against South Australia tomorrow, before beating the loser of NSW and Victoria the following day if he hopes to reach his second Claxton Shield Grand-Final in as many years at the Rams’ helm

For the unbeaten Patriots, the playoff scenario looks much brighter, as a win tomorrow will give the ‘boys in sky-blue’ a much needed day off before the finale

And nobody would put it past Shane Barclay’s men, who enter the 7.00pm Major-semi against the Victorian Aces as red-hot favourites and odds-on with the bookmakers to replicate Queensland unbeaten run of a year ago

For a team that had much less at stake, the NSW Patriots gave a pretty good insight into their mindset for this Claxton Shield tournament with their overwhelming 9-3 thrashing of the Queensland Rams tonight

There was every indication that those Patriots had no intention of letting up the pressure or flirting with their own momentum when they jumped right out of the blocks and stormed away to another convincing win

They confirmed their domination of the preliminary rounds of the competition with a richly deserved undefeated record, a full two games clear from the second placed Victoria

For Queensland the loss was by no means insignificant as it cost them the double-chance that comes as a reward for finishing in one of the top two table positions
They are now consigned to the perilous pathway that requires three successive wins in the finals without the luxury of a single slip-up and the associated fact that will have no room to be cautious about exhausting their bullpen - each game for finalists Queensland and South Australia is an elimination game!

Although it was probably the potent NSW offence that grabbed for them the ascendency once again in this game it was also a very good opportunity for pitchers Andrew Cooke and Aidan Francis to enjoy some low-pressure exposure to Australian baseball's big league

Cooke was very good on this occasion, striking out four at the rate of one per inning while allowing only one run
Then, with a big lead already established in the game, there was no need to squeeze any more pitches out of Cooke and Francis was summoned to relieve him after just four frames
Francis allowed six hits and a couple of walks during his long stint of five innings at the end of the game, but he somehow managed to limit the damage to only two runs while Queensland never really threatened to get back into the game

In a performance that somewhat typifies why NSW have remained virtually unchallenged in this tournament so far, no less than NINE different players chimed in with safe hits for the Patriots - it is that kind of balanced offence which can make teams very hard to beat in this type of competition where it is dangerous to rely on a couple of big guns that don't always fire

One of the genuine "big guns" who has gathered an ominous momentum of his own at Claxton 2007 is former major league infielder Glenn Williams who added another three hits to his collection today

The only other player with a multi-hit game was the omni-present Gavin Fingleson who remains one of the most reliable and prolific hitters in the country

After his decent showing against Victoria earlier in this carnival the sky caved in for rookie Matthew Bates in this game when he couldn't get to the end of the third inning before getting the hook with eight (OUCH!) earned runs against his name - six hits and five walks from 2.2 innings is not the sort of performance that he will want to remember

Mark Kearney was a lot better, allowing the same number of hits over 6.1 innings with only one free pass - Kearney was pretty good in a game that had long since ceased to be a real contest

Future Philly pro Alan Sheonberger announced himself to the AMLB headlines with a terrific 2-3 effort for his team, while Josh Roberts was the only other player with two hits in a game where the Rams failed to make maximum effect out of a quite reasonable nine hits for the game

Undefeated NSW deserve top billing for the upcoming finals and they will certainly be the team to beat for the title

Queensland are far from out of the event, but they have made their road to retaining their title much more perilous!