Showcase Series

Game #03 v South Australia

Friday 5th December 2008

GAME REPORTS

South Australian left-fielder Ben Wigmore terrorised the Queensland Rams, belting back-to-back homers and driving in five runs, but it wasn't enough to help his side capture their first victory of the year, falling to the Rams 11-9

Wigmore, a dominant presence in the middle of South Australia's line-up for the better part of a decade, made short work of Queensland pitcher Justin Erasmus, fresh from a successful stint with the Australian under-19 side earlier this year

Despite Wigmore's heroics, the Southerners had to face a spirited comeback from Queensland, who steadily erased a 6-1 deficit, before breaking the game open with five runs in the bottom of the eighth inning

The middle of the Rams line-up did the major damage with Brad Dutton, Brett Roneberg and David Sutherland combining for 10 hits, 5 runs-scored and 6 RBI's on the afternoon

On the mound, South Australia used five different hurlers to try and stem the Queensland tide, but ultimately came out on the wrong end of their third consecutive loss

For the Rams, Erasmus settled down after the early hiccups and gave his side another four scoreless frames before handing the ball to reliever Simon Morriss who came away with the win

Queensland move to 2 wins and 1 loss on the year and will look to consolidate their performance when they clash with home town favourites and traditional rivals the NSW Patriots in the main game on Saturday night

Meanwhile, South Australia will looking to put their early season woes behind them as they clash with neighbouring opponents Victoria in their final game of the Showcase round

I suppose that it was always destined to be a “slugfest” when you look at the way both teams aligned their pitching rotations for this game

Queensland’s teenage Boston Red Sox signing Justin Erasmus came with only one AMLB appearance under his belt for the 2008 Australian Provincial team
He was to make his first start for the Rams in this game

His opponent, or opponents, would be a committee of South Australian hurlers who are either unknown to Claxton Shield baseball or who are yet to really prosper at this level

On any other day Erasmus, who was pretty decent overall, would have been unlikely to escape a loss after supplying eleven hits and two walks from his seven inning start
But, on this occasion, it was not too difficult for his offensive team mates to reel in the six runs he allowed

In the end it was the well performed Simon Morriss who collected the win, even though it was also far from his best showing and he nearly wobbled in the final frame

It would not serve much purpose to dwell on the frailty of the South Australian pitching again here
Let’s just say that newcomers Michael Ewart and Chris Doyle struggled mightily at the beginning of the game and another rookie Adam Crabb was pitching in the wrong place at the wrong time to take the loss
Nick Talbot couldn’t buy an out and Chris Lawson didn’t have a lot to do while nailing down the last two Queensland outs
Probably the best of South’s pitching on this day was Lachlan Eldridge but even he was not without problems in a contest when the bar was set horribly low for South Australia’s bullpen once again

However, for all that South Australia's offence was up to the task of leaping out in front and giving their team a real chance of a morale boosting win
It would be redundant to report that leading from the front for them would be, no prizes for guessing, that most prolific of Claxton Shield “Money Men” ‘Bashing Ben’ Wigmore
Ben’s first two at bats yielded a two run homer and a three run homer, both over right field … our correspondent suggested that his third might have been another big fly but he just missed the perfect contact and he flied out to right
‘Wiggy’ added another single late in the game to round off YET ANOTHER brilliant game with 3-5 and FIVE huge RBI's … say no more!

The underrated Dan Wilson enjoyed a terrific 4-5 game while dangerous veteran Craig Watts rolled back the years with 2-3 that included a RBI and two walks

We lauded veteran pitcher Darren Fidge for knocking his first AMLB hit yesterday but he wasn’t prepared to rest on that when he hammered a single, a double and a two-RBI triple to end up just a home run short of hitting for the cycle!
After sixteen years of pitching at this level ‘Fidgey’ might yet have several more years left as a batter?

One guy whose career numbers could stack up with Wigmore’s is superstar Brett Roneberg, but even his 2-4 plus a sacrifice fly RBI would take a back seat to his Queensland team mates Dutton (times two) and Sutherland
Former LA Dodgers minor league pro David Sutherland continues to be a consistent star at AMLB level with his 4-4 and two RBIs here
Brad Dutton, a current Independent League pro, just outstripped him with 4-4 and three ‘ribbies’
Why, you might ask, do we mention brother Wade Dutton who was not listed among the safe hitters in this game … well, how about FOUR walks for an effort?
Phillies minor league catcher Joel Naughton delivered three big RBIs with a double and a walk

So, it wasn’t the prettiest of Claxton Shield contests but Queensland will grab the points with both hands as you never take anything for granted at this level

South Australia won’t often enjoy compiling sixteen hits in one game and they might well bemoan the fact that they could not engineer a victory out of their 16-12 hit advantage

Then again when your pitchers combine to issue eight walks versus two you don’t have to look much further for your answer!