Home and Away Series

Game #15 v South Australia

Saturday 17th January 2009

GAME REPORTS

Queensland secured the series against South Australia when they crawled to 7-6 result in Game Two on Saturday night at the Redlands Baseball Club Sheldon

Rams starting pitcher Wayne Ough, back in the state team after coming back from injury, opened the match gingerly by conceding an early hit to South Australian short stop Jeremy Cresswell

In the Rams first visit to the plate short stop Brad Dutton got his bat working early with a stand up double to centre field
Michael Collins then took second base when pitcher Paul Mildren snapped up his hit ball throwing to short stop who ran down Brad Dutton trying to advance to third base
Matthew Studeman singled to left field to bring in Michael Collins for Queensland to open the scoring

South Australia came out aggressively in the second innings with Tom Brice, Michael Corbett, Jared Kempf and Stephen Welch all hitting safely to apply pressure on the Rams defence
Wayne Ough compounded the problem by putting on another three runners on base through walks
As per the opening match the local crowd looked up at the scoreboard to see the visitors again had posted six runs in the second innings

Queensland began the climb to get back into the match in the third innings when Rams designated hitter Brett Roneberg blasted the ball out of the park at centre field to score Brad Dutton to trail South Australia 6-3

Rams pitcher John Veitch who replaced Wayne Ough in the third innings was nullifying the South Australian hitters allowing Queensland the opportunity to make up the ground

Brett Roneberg again struck back in the fifth innings with a stand up double to left field scoring two runs with Michael Collins and Brad Dutton crossing to bring the home side within one run of the visitors

The pendulum had swung back in favour of Queensland allowing Rams manager Peter Yates to bring in the experienced closing pitcher Tristan Crawford

In the seventh innings consistent hitter Justin Linger started the ball rolling with a double to right field
He then reached third base on a sacrifice bunt from Brad Dutton to put the tying run within ninety feet of the plate
South Australia responded by bringing in their experienced pitcher Darren Fidge to shut down the threat - however an error by the field advanced Linger to tie up the match
Rams Catcher Joel Naughton did the job with a single hit to left field to score Brett Roneberg and grab the lead back for the home state

Rams pitcher Tristan Crawford, whilst conceding two walks over the last two innings, shut down the visitors allowing Queensland to hold onto their slender lead

If the South Australian baseball team comprised any animal other than humans, the RSPCA would have been visiting Redlands claiming cruelty!
For the second game running they put up a big crooked number in the top of the second inning only to be overrun, this time narrowly, in yet another heart breaking Claxton Shield loss this season

For the umpteenth time over the last couple of campaigns they were unable to make a grand-slam-plus lead hold up

Interestingly, the South Australian bullpen tandem of rookie Adam Crabb and evergreen Darren Fidge were very good and only a pair of unearned runs, one each, clawed the Rams to a single run win

Kansas City Royals ‘AAA’ pro Paul Mildren took the ball first for South Australia and he could have enjoyed a great outing if not for the menacing presence of our Hall-of-Famer Brett Roneberg who has a habit of making life unpleasant for the best of pitchers
Roneberg was responsible for four of the five runs driven in from Mildren’s offerings via two extra base hits, plus he walked first time up

Let’s move straight into the Queensland offence which was, of course, headlined by ‘Roneberg the Wrecker’ who crushed a two-run homer over centre field in the third, then followed with a two-RBI double in the fifth that chased Mildren from the hill

Experienced Independent Leaguer Brad Dutton also batted 2-2 with a double, a bunt single, a sac bunt and a walk
Atlanta rookie league pro James Linger doubled and singled, while reliable Matt Studeman singled and walked for a RBI
Joel Naughton drove in the Queensland's other run

To start with the South Aussie batting, six different players made up all their safe hits and six different players scored their total of six runs
Stefan Welch and Jared Kempf supplied the bulk of South’s runs with two RBIs each, while Tommy Brice added a pair of walks to his solid 1-1 game
Only Kempf and Todd Langman delivered extra base hits for the guests as they were generally held in check by Queensland’s pitching, aside from their isolated second inning eruption

Former New York Mets ‘AA’ pro and Athens Olympic silver medallist Wayne Ough made his first and only appearance for the Maroons in this competition and it wasn’t exactly memorable when South Australia's six run second inning saw him assigned to an early shower

Just days from his 31st birthday, John Veitch maintained his high standards in AMLB competition with four efficient scoreless innings that leaked only two base runners
Likewise recent ‘AAA’ and ‘AA’ pro Tristan Crawford who grabbed the win with four dominant shutout innings that were blemished only by three walks

It should be annoying the heck out the low-confidence South Australians that opposing teams seem to find just enough to beat them, even when they work hard to establish winning positions
However, ‘Flintoff & Dunn’ would like to give them a token of our respect for continuing to wave the flag for their state under fairly demoralising circumstances

Refusing to quit means a lot in sports and it does say a fair bit about the character and spirit of their players and management
Teams that persist always have a chance to turn things around ... those who don’t won’t!