Heavy Hitters!
World class baseball is on its way to Sunraysia with the announcement that Mildura is to be part of the prestigious Claxton Shield Diamond Anniversary year
Two games of the 40-game championship series will be played at Mildura’s Old Aero Oval baseball complex on the weekend of December 13 and 14
Local baseball authorities are in a race against the clock to upgrade their facilities to the level accepted for national standard, including safety fencing and pitch requirements
The games will be a huge shot in the arm for tourism, sports and hospitality promotion locally, and organisers are hoping that big crowds will attend on both days to catch all the action
The two teams going head to head in Mildura will be the Victoria Aces and the Queensland Rams
The Saturday game will start at 3.00pm, and the Sunday match at 11.00am
The Claxton Shield, first contested in 1934, remains the pinnacle event for Australian players, with as many as sixty current US professionals expected to compete in the 2009 competition
To celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Claxton Shield, the Australian Baseball Federation will select and announce a Diamond Anniversary All-Star Team, formally recognising the achievements of some of the game’s greatest stars

Claxton Sheld Baseball coming to Mildura
Congratulations to the Sunraysia Baseball League on securing rights for the Victoria v Queensland baseball games
These games will be held at the Aero Ovals Diamond 1 on December 13th and 14th
The first game will be held on Saturday 13th December at 3.00pm and the second game December 14th at 11.00am
Fully catered family days with jumping castle, face painting, etc
Free entry
Come on all and support your local baseball association and watch these games that are usually reserved for capital cities
See you at Aero on the 13th & 14th December 2008 - and don’t forget your hat and sunscreen!

Coup for Sunraysia
It's batter up time for Mildura as Australia’s premier baseball tournament comes to town
The 2009 Diamond Anniversary Claxton Shield competition comes to Sunraysia on December 13 and 14
Mildura will host two matches between the Victoria Aces and the Queensland Rams
Nick Carroll, from the Sunraysia Baseball League, said he was thrilled Mildura had the chance to host such an important event
“I hope it will have a huge impact in the local baseball scene” Mr Carroll said
“It’s the premier baseball competition in Australia”
The event is going out to the regional communities such as Mildura and Mt Gambier to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the Claxton Shield
“They don’t normally cover country areas so we’re privileged to have it in Mildura
It doesn’t usually go outside major cities”
Mildura’s wonderful facilities made it a strong contender to host this massive baseball event

Perth Heat confident ahead of Claxton Shield home fixtures

The Perth Heat take on Queensland Rams at Baseball Park this weekend in the side's first home series of the Claxton Shield
The Rams were the only team to defeat the Heat in the Claxton Shield Showcase Round held in Sydney two weeks ago, so Perth will be looking to get ahead early

Heat coach Don Kyle said the team was preparing to flex its muscle at home
“We’re pretty fired up" Kyle said "We’ve had some really good training sessions, so I know we’re ready for the weekend
I think our starting pitchers are gaining more confidence every week because they are getting more starts and facing more situations
We really respect the Queensland side and we think we know them pretty well so we are going to come out hard
Our defence is solid and our batting is strong - I think we can take the series"

The clash will feature a fiery encounter with the bat, with Queensland’s Wade and Brad Dutton topping the batting average and Perth’s Nick Kimpton sitting in third place

The Heat have experienced a slight slump in form the past week, dropping two games of the past three game series against New South Wales Patriots in Canberra and Wollongong last weekend
“We’re really unhappy with what we did in New South Wales last week so we want to come out strong and make amends” Kyle said
Inclement weather washed out Friday night’s game and forced a double header on Saturday
The Patriots won the first game 5-3, allowing only three hits
Perth lifted in the second and won 7-2
The Heat amassed 13 hits for the game, with most of the starters picking up at least one
Tim Kennelly, Nick Kimpton and Dean White all ended up with 2 runs batted in (RBI)
Dylan Peacock pitched out the whole game and gave up only two runs
The next day in Wollongong the Patriots prevailed again and won 11-8 to take the series
New South Wales took an early lead in the high-scoring game but the Heat came back by the sixth innings to be down by one run
The comeback was thanks to a three run home run by Nick Kimpton
But Perth were unable to score any more runs as the Patriots added two more

Queensland Rams also dropped its series against Victoria Aces one game to two
The side was forced into a double header on Saturday due to rain on Friday and lost both games, 15-0 and 10-9 respectively
Queensland could not do much right in the first game and only managed four hits to the Aces 13
The second game was much closer thanks to a grand-slam by right fielder Brett Roneberg that revived the Rams in the sixth inning
Queensland finally broke through for a win in the last game of the series 4-3
All the side's runs came in the ninth innings due to some consecutive team batting, with hits from Wade and Brad Dutton, Trent Baker and Brett Roneberg

In the 1990’s, Lismore's hosting of games from the Australia Baseball League was common practice
With the Gold Coast Cougars and Brisbane Bandits just a road trip away, locals were treated to a litany of baseball talent, many of whom came from the Far North Coast region
As though weren’t spoilt enough, the Olympics brought teams from throughout the world for a pre-Olympic tournament

And then the well ran dry
It has been eight long years since those heady days, but the wait has been well worth it

Thanks to Lismore City Council and the Far North Coast Baseball Association, the penultimate level of baseball will return for the next two days as Lismore’s Albert Park hosts the 75th Diamond Anniversary Claxton
And what better way to celebrate than a good old fashioned State of Origin clash between traditional rivals New South Wales (the Patriots) and Queensland (the Rams)

The irony of course is that whilst New South Wales may be in their home State, it is the Rams who are well and truly in their home territory with the locals affiliated north of the border

Queensland Coach Peter Yates sees the game as an opportunity for his young charges show their wares
“We haven’t played to our best so far this season
We have led a number of games from the beginning and not finished off
Hopefully we will match up well against them
We plan to come out with all blazing”

Brothers Brad and Wade Dutton are leading the way for the Rams, both hitting over .400 for the season, while the pick up of the big hitting Michael Collins from the draft will add some power where Yates needs it
New South Wales Coach Shane Barclay is also wary of the trio of Brett Roneberg, Joel Naughton and David Sutherland, the crux of the Rams batting order

When asked about his intentions, Barclay was quite open about his team’s approach
“I wish I had eight or nine left handed pitchers to throw at them
I’d like to see our batting start to score more runs
We have won games on the back of our defence and pitching
Hopefully the runs will come this series”

The Patriots are in the midst of a new generation of stars after twenty years of a team dominated by some of the best baseballer’s to grace the fields
“We have a young side
We have seen the end of the baby blues era from twenty years ago and I believe this is the next group coming through
They have played pretty well so far”

For Barclay it has been right fielder Mitch Denning that has been delivering with the bat
Barclay also pointed to the return of Baltimore Orioles AAA pitcher Craig Anderson as a major plus for the side
Anderson is now well rested after minor league duties in the states where he threw over 180 innings for the season

The Patriots expect to start tonight’s game with Wayne Lundgren or Tim Cox, while the Rams will call upon Chris Mowday as their starter

The Queensland Rams will have the home crowd advantage this weekend when they take on South Australia in Round Six of the 2009 Diamond Anniversary Claxton Shield

With an impressive roster that includes local heroes such as Joel Naughton (40-man, Phillies), brothers Nathan and Tristan Crawford, and ABF Youth Player of the Year James Linger, Queensland is set to deliver

New additions to the roster include 2004 Olympic Silver Medallist Wayne Ough, veteran John Vietch, as well as the returning Naughton and Steven Greer
The four replace Wade Dutton, Drew Naylor, Simon Morriss and Daniel Lamb Hunt

Baseball Queensland encourage all fans to support the Rams

South Australia travels to Brisbane this weekend to take on the Queensland Rams in their final series of the 2009 Diamond Anniversary Claxton Shield

Queensland owns a record of 5-8 and could potentially finish the weekend at an 8-8 tie with either New South Wales or Victoria for the third and final playoff spot
In such as scenario, New South Wales and Victoria hold the tie-break advantage, making it mathematically unattainable for Queensland to make the Semi-Finals

South Australia has limped to a 1-13 start but is looking to salvage their Claxton Shield with a strong showing in the competition's final weekend

Queensland was off last week but took two out of three from New South Wales January 2-4 in a series played in Lismore and Windsor

At the dish, the Rams are lead by Wade and Brad Dutton who are hitting .425 and .354 respectively putting each of them in the top four in hitting for the whole Shield
Catcher Joel Naughton was recently added to the 40-man roster of the World Series Champions Philadelphia Phillies and has hit .286 in ten Claxton Shield games

South Australia has received fine offensive contributions from the Doctor Dan Wilson who's hitting .297 as catcher and third baseman Stefan Welch who has belted four home runs
Veteran Darren Fidge has contributed at the plate and from the mound collecting the team's only victory, pitching 5.1 innings striking out seven as South Australia defeated West Australia 11-2

The teams will matchup Friday and Saturday night at 7.00pm in Redlands and Sunday afternoon's 1.00pm game will be played in Windsor

Semi Final

New South Wales v Victoria

Patriots advance to Grand Final

The New South Wales Patriots secured their place in the Grand Final of the 2009 Diamond Anniversary Claxton Shield after defeating the Victoria Aces this weekend two games to one in the three game Semi Final series

Game Three of the head-to-head battle saw the Patriots down the Aces 5-0, scoring their second consecutive win of the weekend after they defeated the hometown favourites on Saturday afternoon, 9-0

Victoria, who led the league in hitting at .304 during the regular season, did not score a run for the final 22 innings of the Semi-Final series

The Patriots bats were on fire
Shannon Pender homered for the Patriots for the second straight game, and he was supported by solid pitching efforts, as New South Wales shutout Victoria for the second time in as many days

"There were three good pitching performances, maybe even four this weekend" said NSW Manager Shane Barclay
"We had an unlucky start on Friday
We've been working to have them stay at one level ... and they played well and never stuck their heads"

Pender, who put the game out of reach on Saturday with a three-run home run, homered in the fifth on Sunday to make it 3-0
Darryn Cassidy (0-1) had begun the inning by mishandling a bunt attempt, allowing the first run to score, before Pender's two-run blast to left made it 3-0

"I expected him to come in and play well defensively" said Barclay of his second baseman, who also made a few nice defensive plays throughout the weekend
"He's a guy that hits for average and he stepped up"

Craig Anderson meanwhile went the first seven innings, scattering just four hits as part of a combined six-hitter with Wayne Lundgren, striking out six Victoria batters

The Patriots will now move on to the 2009 Diamond Anniversary Claxton Shield Championship Final in Perth, where they will battle it out for national supremacy against the Perth Heat on February 6-8, 2009

Grand Final

New South Wales v Western Australia

Preview

After knocking off the Victoria Aces in Melbourne, the New South Wales Patriots will head west to take on the Perth Heat in the Claxton Shield Finals to be played Feb. 6-8

While New South Wales had to play their way in through the semi-finals, the Heat clinched their place in the Final Series back on January 10 when they secured a three-game sweep of Victoria with an 11- 5 victory

New South Wales diminished their chances to host the semi-finals by dropping two out of three in Geelong to the Vics in the regular season's final round
However, they headed back to Victoria and took the more important series a week later on the back of their stellar starting pitching to earn their bid to the finals

Perth will be well rested for the Finals, after a bye in Round Six of the Shield, a break for the semi-finals on the weekend just gone and another two weeks until the Finals
The question now remains whether that rest will turn to rust

On the mound, New South Wales is led by left-hander Tim Cox who in five starts has still yet to allow an earned run
In his latest outing, Cox got the Pats into the win column in the semi-finals series by shutting out the Aces over eight innings scattering a walk and five hits while striking out six
His non-existent ERA now spans 26 innings pitched as he pushed his 2009 Claxton Shield record to a perfect 4-0
Cox threw 103 innings two years ago in the Boston Red Sox organization and was pitcher of the year in the 2008 Claxton Shield

Wayne Lundgren is another key starter for New South Wales as he finished the regular season with a 2.27 ERA, second in the tournament only to Cox
He ended up with a record of 3-1 allowing just 24 hits in 31.2 innings pitched
He struggled in the opening game of the semi-finals allowing four earned runs in just two innings, but pitched the final two innings of the 5-0 Sunday victory to help the Pats past the Aces and into the finals

The Patriots will need strong performances from Lundgren and Cox to quiet the big bats of West Australia

The Patriots trotted out a balanced attack all season with a team batting average of .280 led by left-fielder David Kandilas at .370, first baseman Patrick Maat at .333 and second baseman Shannon Pender at .318
They also added center fielder Trent Oeltjen to their lineup for the final six games where he hit .455 (10-22) with a homer, three runs batted in and three stolen bases
Oeltjen played seven seasons in the Minnesota Twins organization before signing with the Arizona Diamondbacks and playing in 127 games at Triple-A Tucson where he hit .317

The Heat offensive attack is sparked by center fielder Nick Kimpton who is leading the nation in hitting with a mind-numbing .500 average after 64 at bats including five home runs for good measure
Christopher House has posted a .356 average playing in all sixteen games and Lachlan Dale led the league with seven home runs almost matching the eight that New South Wales hit for the entire regular season
Perth only added to their offensive wealth with the late season additions of Allan De San Miguel who hit .412 (7-17) in six games, Mitch Graham who finished hitting .406 (13-32) in ten games and Luke Hughes who batted .385 in six games
It will be a tall order for the New South Wales pitching staff to keep this bunch in check, but they will need to if New South Wales hopes to take two of three in Perth

Western Australia also sports a strong starting rotation led by Mark Kelly who has struck out 37 hitters in 29 innings and gone 2-2 with a 3.72 ERA
Dylan Peacock has been up to the task as well posting a 1-1 record with 3.81 ERA in 28.1 innings pitched including a complete game victory against New South Wales on December 13
Liam Hendricks has also been a valuable addition to the starting rotation leading the starters with a 3.05 ERA and 3-1 record
Coming out of the bullpen, the Heat bring in closer Brendan Wise who has notched four saves and allowed just one earned run in 9.2 innings pitched

The Perth Heat will look to defend their 2008 title in the Diamond Anniversary Claxton Shield Final Series at Baseball Park in Perth the weekend of February 6-8

Perth Heat retain their title as National Champions

The Heat was definitely on this evening at Baseball Park in Western Australia, as the Barbagallo Perth Heat won the battle for national supremacy and retained their title as National Champions, defeating the New South Wales Patriots 3-2 in Game Three of the Grand Final of the 2009 Diamond Anniversary Claxton Shield

The win for the Heat came off the back of a 5-4 victory for the host state in Saturday night's match up, a result that forced the Series in to a deciding third game and a decision was definitely made as a strident Western Australian crowd cheered the Heat to victory

The game remained scoreless until the bottom of the fourth inning when a homerun down right field line from 'Rookie of the Year' Christopher House brought in Tim Kennelly for two RBI's

Starting pitcher for the Heat, Daniel Schmidt, went an almost perfect 6.2 innings, allowing just two hits, with no runs and no errors, an effort that was applauded by Heat Manager Don Kyle
"Schmidty did an amazing job on the mound
He got us there, he really did"

Schmidt kept the Patriots off the scoreboard until reliever Dean White came in to close the seventh inning, and pitched a further perfect eighth dig allowing no hits, no runs and no errors

Brendan Wise replaced White in the top of the ninth inning in an attempt by the Heat to close down the game, only to be shattered with two RBI's from Mitch Denning that brought D'Antonio and Maat across the plate, leveling the score 2-2

Untrue to form, Patriots pitcher Wayne Lundgren threw a shakey 6.0 innings for the Patriots allowing seven hits, two runs and two errors

He was replaced by Matt Williams who, despite a solid attempt to kept the Heat bats at bay throughout the last few digs, had a touch of 'heat stroke' in the ninth when Mark Kennelly advanced to third on a wild pitch and was driven home on an RBI from Daniel Floyd to close the game

Naturally ecstatic with the result, Heat Manager Don Kyle kept his message to his players short and sweet
"I can't say much more than that you did an amazing job out there, guys"
"You have all shown a tremendous amount of courage, commitment and effort throughout what has been one of the most challenging tournaments of my life"

Patriots Manager Shane Barclay was visibly emotional in his delivery to his team, acknowledging their continual ability to battle the odds
"You guys are inspirational
You have outdone yourselves this season, and I am so proud"

Both Managers acknowledged the talent of their opponents and thanked each other for a fantastic Finals Series

Australian Baseball Federation Chief Executive Officer John May, who was in town for the Series, was thrilled with the overall result of the Series
"Tonight's game encapsulated all that a Grand Final Series should be
"Both teams have shown a tremendous amount of talent, dedication and humility
They should be proud"

Official on-field presentations were made at the end of the game, and in addition to the Claxton Shield Medallions and Shield itself, the Australian Baseball Federation also acknowledged the stars of the 75th Diamond Anniversary Claxton Shield

Congratulations to the following winners

2009 Pitching Champion - Tim Cox (NSW)
2009 Offensive Champion - Nick Kimpton (WA)
2009 Rookie of the Year - Chris House (WA)
2009 Golden Glove - Grant Karlsen (VIC)
2009 MVP of the Final - Luke Hughes (WA)

75th Claxton Shield Diamond Anniversary All Star Team

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for a 'comprehensive-and-complete'
report on this year's Claxton Shield

by Peter Flintoff