Won by Australian Provincial - 14 runs to 6

Brisbane
Playing rightfield
Batting #3

Canberra
Did not play

------------------------------Refer to the third game of the series - click here
------------------------------During the top of the fourth innings
------------------------------Sliding into second base, Brett "twisted" his ankle
------------------------------Came out of that game as a precautionary measure
------------------------------Also Brett did not play in the fourth game of the series nor in the completion of this game

Queensland - bottom first innings
Bylett struck out looking (1-2)
Dutton grounded out to 3b (3-2)
Roneberg struck out, out at first c to 1b (2-2)
0 runs - 0 hits - 0 errors - 0 LOB

Queensland - bottom third innings
Nilsson walked (3-2)
Greer flied out to cf (1-0)
Bylett singled to center field (3-2)
----------Nilsson advanced to second
Dutton struck out looking (0-2)
Roneberg flied out to rf (2-2)
0 runs - 1 hit - 0 errors - 2 LOB

Plate appearances - 2
At bats - 2
Strike outs - 1
Outfield fly outs - 1
Runners left in scoring position - 1
Batting Average - 0.000
Slugging Percentage - 0.000
On Base Percentage - 0.000

Plate appearances - 29
At bats - 23
Hits - 10
----------4 x singles
----------4 x doubles
----------2 x home runs
Runs batted in - 8
Runs scored - 6
Walks - 6
Strike outs - 3
Stolen base - 1
Infield ground outs - 3
Infield fly outs - 2
Outfield fly outs - 5
Runners left in scoring position - 6
Batting Average - 0.435
Slugging Percentage - 0.870
On Base Percentage - 0.552

Game Two of the 2008 IndependentAdvice.com Claxton Shield series between Australia Provincial and the Queensland Rams has been suspended due rain

The game was suspended with 2 outs in the top 5th inning with Australia Provincial leading 7-0

As the official rules of Baseball call for five innings to be completed before a game can be deemed "official", a decision is pending as to whether this game will be abandoned, or resumed when Queensland travel to Canberra for the return series
The Australian Baseball Federation will publish the decision as soon as it is made by the Claxton Shield Technical Committee

In Game Two of the twin-bill, Queensland was in all sorts of trouble as they trailed Australian Provincial, 7-0 after four innings, when the match was suspended after a torrential downpour hit Holloway Park

Unfortunately the rain dampened what was quickly turning out to be Provincial’s best showing of the 2008 Claxton Shield to date, with starting pitcher Steven Kent and left fielder Sam Brown both having a field day in the game
Kent had allowed just 3 hits and struck out 5 through the first 4 innings, while Brown was backing up a solid 2 for 4 effort in Game One, with another 3 hits and an RBI in Game Two

This game, as well as the third game of this series will be completed when the Rams travel to Canberra for the return match-up later this month

Come on fellas, get fair dinkum - unless the catcher had to call for a snorkel, the pitcher needed an umbrella and there was lightning crackling along the cyclone wire fence, surely you wouldn’t call this game quits in the fifth inning?
If I were an Australian Provincial player or manager trying to make the most of my seven run lead, they would have to carry me kicking and screaming from the diamond!

Seriously, what a crying shame that Queensland’s horrendous storms did not clear sufficiently to allow this series to progress normally
The schedule had already been delayed a by a couple of days, but their attempt to play catch-up has now also been thwarted by another downpour

What makes this particularly disappointing for the Australian Provincial team is that they seemed well on their way to their first victory for Claxton 2008 and the timing could hardly have been more frustrating for them
We are assuming here that the established rule will apply whereby five completed innings are required to classify it as “a game”?

If not, the Provincials will have unfortunately “wasted” another outstanding start from their 18yo Atlanta Braves professional Steve Kent who had sailed through four innings and he looked capable of going deep into the game, if required
Kent had struck out five during his impressive outing and the efficiency of his pitching was in stark contrast to a nightmare performance from the Queensland throwers on this day

Young Atlanta Braves signing Matt Timms was thrown to the wolves for his first AMLB start after pitching a couple of games in relief for the Provincials at Claxton 2007 in Perth
After a promising first inning, things just fell apart for Timms and the Rams in a horror second inning when seven green shirts crossed the home plate to score
Timms allowed two hits, two walks and hit batter to set the ball rolling out of control, but his own additional error made things worse
By the time he was relieved by San Diego Padres rookie league pro Clint Naylor, he had just walked the second and third runs across the plate

Naylor quickly joined the charity fund by walking across another, before allowing three more runs, even though two of those scored on ground out plays
Three hits, four walks and a hit batter combined to enable the Aussie Provincials to post a rare seven-spot for them

Naylor managed to pitch a scoreless third inning before handing over to 22yo lefty David Holland who walked the tightrope without allowing a run in the fourth or fifth, so far!

For the Provincials, unheralded Sam Brown plundered 3-3 with a RBI in this game, while seasoned Victorians Tristan McDonald and Andrew McKenzie both contributed two knocks and a RBI each, as did the impressive converted Victorian softballer James Brooks
In fact, seven different ‘AP’ hitters contributed RBI’s, but some of those were via bases loaded walks

For Queensland, former LA Dodgers pro David Sutherland simply continues to build upon his excellent Claxton Shield record with two of the Rams total of three hits in this shortened contest

It now remains to be seen whether the result of this game, or the player’s statistics, are to become part of Claxton Shield history, or simply ignored as if the game never happened? .......... report continued below

It would be a pretty tough gig for both teams to pick up the threads of a game that was postponed from 6th January and transported from Brisbane's Redlands to Narrabundah in the ACT after yet more rain halted this game with the Aussie Provincials holding a 7-0 lead with two out in the top of the fifth inning

If there are to be any future Claxton Shields after 2008, then the ruling committee has created an interesting precedent here by starting the game from its point of interruption, instead of the more traditional decision to replay the game in its entirety, even though that would seem to be very harsh on the Provincials under these circumstances
Are we allowed to wonder whether the same decision may have been made if it was Queensland leading the Provincials by seven runs? - let's not go there!

Clearly finding the conditions toughest were the re-starting pitchers for both teams
Ever reliable and usually effective Cameron Hardy finished the game for 'AP' and, knowing what a team guy he is, he won't be too frustrated by the fact that his personal statistics suffered while enjoying a team victory
Former San Diego Padres' professional Riki Paewai would not have enjoyed the experience of allowing two hits and three walks while securing only one out - ouch!

On a far more positive note, Paewai's exit enabled unknown Ram, Aaron Luchterhand, to make a quite impressive AMLB pitching debut
Young Aaron induced a couple of neat ground ball double-plays to work around a couple of errors in a mature effort

Of those already mentioned before the postponement, Queensland's David Sutherland added a couple more hits in a wrecking-ball performance of 4-4 with two-RBI's, while Andy Utting added a hit and a walk

Four new names, including a couple of "hyphens", were among the offensive stars after the resumption
For the Provincials Ben Day impressed again with another hit and a walk, while James Stanton-Cooke produced two RBI's via a bases-loaded walk and a sac-fly
Previously unknown Rams James Linger took his chance to get a walk and a hit, while Daniel Lamb-Hunt was the stand out with two crunching doubles, including a RBI, from his two at bats - that's a 2.000 slugging percentage, folks!

Almost forgotten in the context of the postponed game was that this result has levelled this series and, depending upon future results in the Eastern Division, it might yet have some influence on the wash-up of the division, but we doubt it!

The Claxton Shield Tournament continued this weekend in Australia, and Pirate farmhand Brett Roneberg was named the “Fielders Choice Player of the Round” for last weekend’s performance
He had another strong showing this weekend

This weekend, the Queensland Rams and the Australian Provincials played a series, and also made up a rained out game, and finished a suspended game from the second weekend

The Australian Provincial team is made up of players who are not from the big cities
Since baseball is a 'club' sport in Australia, players who are not in the cities don’t always have the same access to the club teams and other baseball opportunities
So, the Provincial team traditionally has had more of a struggle than the other state teams

In the Eastern Division of Claxton Shield play, the Queensland Rams and the New South Wales Patriots are tied in the standings, each having a 7-2 record
The Australian Provincials have a 1-11 record

In the Southern Division, the Perth Heat are in first place with a 8-4 record, the Victoria Aces are in second with a 5-4 record, and South Australia is last with a 2-7 record

Game One - Queensland 7 v Australian Provincial 3 (make up game from Week Two)
Roneberg went 2-for-3 in the game, with two doubles, 2 RBI and a walk
The Provincials took advantage of some temporary wildness on the part of the Queensland pitcher Chris Mowday to score a run in the second inning
The first batter was hit by a pitch, then the next batter walked on four straight pitches
A throwing error on a pickoff attempt allowed both runners to advance one base, and the lead runner scored on a ground out to first base
The 1-0 lead held until the fifth inning, when the Rams exploded for four runs, assisted by two errors by the Provincials
Roneberg’s RBI double brought in the first run, and later scored
The Rams added three more runs in the next inning, assisted by another error by the Provincials and another RBI double by Roneberg

Game Two - Queensland 11 v Provincials 1
Brett Roneberg had two hits and 2 RBI in this game also
The Rams exploded with twelve hits while holding the Provincials to five hits
Roneberg got things started for the Rams in the first inning, with another RBI double
His RBI single in the fifth contributed to the Rams 4-run inning
They scored three more runs in the sixth inning, and another three in the top of the seventh inning
The Provincials managed only one run, on four singles in the fourth inning

Game Three - Queensland 12 v Provincials 1
The Rams did it again the next day
The previous two games were only seven innings because they were played as a double-header
This game was only seven innings because of the mercy rule - the Rams were ahead by more than ten runs after the seventh inning, so the game was ended
The Provincials got on the board first, with a run on two walks and two errors in the bottom of the first inning
The Rams quickly righted the ship, though, and scored two runs in the second and three more in the third
In the second inning,the Rams had two hits and were helped by two errors
Roneberg led off the third inning with a walk, advanced to second on an error by the shortstop, moved to third on a single, and scored on a sacrifice fly
Another single and a ground out with a poor throw added two more runs
Roneberg had a single and stole second base in the fourth inning, though he was left stranded on base (Replaced due to ankle injury!)
The Rams added another run in the sixth inning on a double and a single
They sent eleven batters to the plate in the seventh inning, scoring six runs on five hits, though this time without any help (errors) by the Provincials

Game Four - Queensland 16 v Provincials 5
This game went the full nine innings, since the Rams were never ahead by more than ten runs until the ninth
That didn’t help the Provincials too much, though, as the Rams exploded again, putting up nineteen hits for their sixteen runs
They had a 5-run second inning and two 4-run innings, including the ninth
Lead-off batter SS James Linger was the star for the Rams, going 5-for-6 and scoring six runs
Brett Roneberg got a rest and didn’t play in this game

Game Five - Provincials 14 v Queensland 6
The Provincials turned the tables in this game, the resumption of the suspended game from Week Two
This was the Provincials only win so far in the tournament, so they apparently were determined to make the most of it
The Provincials went wild in the second inning (a few weeks ago) to send twelve batters to the plate and score seven runs on three hits, a hit batter, an error, and four walks, three of which walked in runs
The game was suspended with the score 7-0, and when it resumed, the Provincials added two runs in the fifth and five more in the sixth
Queensland tried to keep up the by scoring one run in the fifth on a double and a ground out, and three more runs in the sixth inning on a double, three singles, and three errors by the Provincials
They added another two runs in the seventh inning (7-inning game because of finishing the suspended game), but it wasn’t close to being enough
Roneberg went hitless in two at bats, with one strikeout

Brett Roneberg has a total of 10 hits in 23 AB’s (.435), with 4 doubles, 2 homers, 8 RBI, 6 BB, and 3 K in the tournament

Next weekend, Queensland and New South Wales play three games
The finals will then be held on the weekend of the 8th to 10th February

Hmmm, we'll have to consider this a little more thoughtfully, but an initial impression is that this elongated format for the Claxton Shield would not appear to suit the Australian Provincial set-up as much as the shorter carnivals that they have enjoyed since 2002
In the 2000 Claxton Shield, when this format was used previously, there was no Australian Provincial team, but a New South Wales Country team that shared the vast New South Wales talent pool

Anyway, the upshot of this was a Provincial team that really found the going tough trying to battle such superior opposition over twelve games... any element of surprise they may have enjoyed previously was very much watered down and the powerful New South Wales and Queensland teams really dined out on their lack of quality pitching depth

We'll start with a summary of the Provincials because they have now finished their commitments for 2008

That multi-talented lad Michael Lennox topped the pops for Provincial batters with more than twenty at bats via his excellent .333 average, especially considering that he was also asked to dilute his focus with some starting pitching assignments
'AP' rookies Sam Brown (.308), Ben Day (.286) and Josh Parker (.268) were next on the list, just to verify the validity of providing an opportunity for new players to compete at this level
Angus Roeger (.417), David Kandilas (.385) and James Yates (.313) also showed plenty of promise from more limited plate appearances
One of their few "veterans" Michael Collins would not be too excited about his .270 average, but his .400 slugging percentage was pretty good again

Apart from their outstanding starter Steve Kent with his 0-2, 3.50ERA, there really wasn't much to say about the Provincials' pitching who obviously found the power-laden hitters of the Rams and Patriots hard to tame
Best of the rest from their bullpen would be Ryan Griffin who seemed to be getting better as the competition progressed

For the Rams, David Sutherland (.469) and Brett Roneberg (.435) are setting a blistering pace out on top of the averages, followed by Joel Naughton (.393), Andrew Utting (.333) and Brad Dutton (.313)
James Linger could hardly hope to maintain his gaudy .563 from 16 at bats, while youngster Daniel Lamb-Hunt has batted .444 from nine at bats

Brett Roneberg has once again embellished his batting average with a mighty .870 slugging percentage

Chris Mowday with 1-0, 1.59ERA and Tristan Crawford with 2-0, 2.40ERA are setting an extremely high standard among all Claxton Shield starting pitchers, while Drew Naylor (1-0, 4.09ERA) appears to be gathering momentum lately
Little known Simon Morriss is easily leading a richly talented Queensland relief corps with his 2-0, 1.12ERA from eight innings