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Western
Australia wipes off Rams 6-3 for sweep
When Mitch Graham singled
in the fourth he drove in West Australia’s first run with
their first hit for the game
By that time the Queenslanders had recorded six hits, two for
extra bases, and might have had more than the three run lead
that they temporarily enjoyed
In the end their hosts would celebrate a series sweep at Thonlie
after doubling their opponents in all three low-scoring games
West Australian starter Ryan Kelly allowed an average of two
base runners per inning and he wasn’t allowed too much rope
when he was relieved of duty after three innings
Coming to the rescue in magnificent style was West Australia’s
young future Philly Daniel Schmidt who swiftly pulled the plug
on the batting power that the Rams had enjoyed
He did this in Liam Hendriks style by inducing eight ground ball
outs over the next four frames while allowing only two base runners,
both called Dutton, on a single and a walk
Based on this terrific effort, Schmidt could be a fine prospect
for the World Champion Phillies
Detroit Tigers’ righty reliever Brendan Wise once again
closed the deal for the Heat quite impressively after working
around a couple of walks that loaded the bags in the eighth
Brendan added another save to his growing reputation in Australian
major league baseball
Current Philadelphia prospect Drew Naylor mows down minor league
hitters like a two-stroke VICTA lawn-mower but, for some reason,
he hasn’t quite been able to transform that into similar
success on the big Australian stage to date
This time he wasn’t too bad, allowing only that one run
on Graham’s fourth inning single, but four walks was uncharacteristically
too many for a guy who usually strikes out many more than he
walks
Former ‘AAA’ pitcher and 2008 ‘AA’ Washington
National Tristan Crawford was strangely unable to keep the home
team quiet when they took control of the game with five hits
and three runs over his next three innings
Simon Morriss was again pretty solid, apart from one fat pitch
to Lachlan Dale who “went yard” to left-field
Dale’s eighth inning shot to left wasn’t quite as close
to the corner pole as team mate Matt Kennelly’s similar
home run ball that hugged the left field line and which was reminiscent
of the same clutch hit he delivered against the Queenslanders
in the opening game of this series
2008 star Mitch Graham is heating up nicely for the Heat with
his 2-3 plus a walk, while Tim Kennelly added his two-run homer
to the RBI single he supplied in the fifth
Brother Matt Kennelly and Mitch Graham drove in the other runs
for the West
Wade ‘Boggs’ Dutton continues to enjoy his break-out
competition as the only duplicate hitter for the Rams on this
occasion
Current Philly Joel Naughton and future Cleveland Indian Trent
Baker were responsible for two of the runs posted on the away
half of the scoresheet
So, there you go subscribers,
we almost got through a Queensland report without mentioning
Brett Roneberg … but not quite
I’m sorry that we can’t tell you why his fielder’s
choice ground ball in the first didn’t bring him a RBI when
the runner scored from third?
NOTE - click
here to see the Box
Score and Play-by-Play Report
The West Australians continue to sit hot on the tail of the ladder-leading
Victorian Aces by virtue of this most competitive home series
sweep
It sets up another important confrontation when the Aces travel
to prosperous Perth in the New Year
The Queensland Rams are by no means “second raters”
but they have left themselves some ground to make up in their
two home series early next year |
