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Patriots
pinch series sweep from Rams
The New South Wales Patriots
ended Queensland's hope of a 'Series Sweep' today in Windsor,
after a 10 - 2 victory for the visiting team forced the Rams
to put their brooms back in the closet
The Patriots commenced their onslaught in the top of the first
inning, when an RBI from Patrick Maat saw Tim Auty cross the
plate
Their assault continued when Mark Holland sacrificed to right-field
in the second dig bringing Mitch Denning home, placing the Patriots
on the scoreboard for the second time in as many innings
The Rams' quest for retaliation began in the bottom of the third
with an RBI from Wade Dutton that brought James Linger cross
the plate, but the Patriots 'pride mission' fuelled their desire
to keep the Rams at bay - a notion that was supported by Michael
Lysaught, who's homer to right field for a triple RBI assisted
in NSW bringing a further five players home in the top of the
fourth
Timothy Cox had a solid effort on the mound for the Patriots,
pitching 5 innings, allowing just 5 hits, 1 run, 0 errors
Williams and Bennett followed, allowing just 2 hits, 1 run and
0 errors in a combined effort throughout the final 4 digs
Queensland mixed it up on the mound after Naylor struggled in
the starting position, allowing 7 hits and 6 runs in his 3.2
inning pitched
The Rams pitching succession included Matthew Timms (3.1 IP),
Simon Morris (0.1 IP) and Nathan Crawford (1.2 IP)
Michael Lysaught, Shannon Pender and Mark Holland were standout
performers at the plate for the Patriots
The win secures the Patriots position in third place on the 75th
Diamond Anniversary Claxton Shield leader board, and the Rams
are close behind in fourth place
New
South Wales 10 - Queensland 2
In a disappointing end to
a great fightback 2-1 series win by the Rams, they dropped the
last game 2-10 to the free swinging Patriots
It seemed like most of the New South Wales hits had "seeing
eyes" and a lot of the Rams hits went straight to fielders
Best with bat on the day for Rams were leadoff batter Wade Dutton
with three hits and an RBI, Michael Collins with another homer,
Matthew Studeman who drew three base on balls, James Linger with
two hits and pinch hitter Daniel Lamb-Hunt who had one hit in
his only at bat
There was a perfect bunt by Brad Dutton early on which was a
safe hit all the way and he also made a great play at third base
Trent Baker and Brett
Roneberg also showed some great outfielding skills
Pitcher Drew Naylor had a tough start, followed by Matt Timms
and Simon Morriss in relief
Closing the game without giving up a run in 1.2 Innings was Nathan
Crawford
The Rams now have the bye next week and then look forward to
redeeming more pride in the last three game home series against
the South Australian Bite
There will be two games at Redlands with last game of the series
at Windsor before the Finals Series commence
The Rams can still contend for a third place finish to make the
Finals
Finally, It was an
honour to see the Rams Diamond 75th Anniversary All Star Team
Players get their Awards before the game
So many great players for the Rams over the years, and I'm sure
many more to come in the future!!
New
South Wales lose series but win 10-2 in Game Three
All that glitters is not necessarily
gold, but when you see a “Golden Arm” return to action,
it is rarely Fool’s Gold!
This is not only true for New South Wales’ former Red Sox
minor leaguer ‘Tornado Tim’ Cox, but also the man he
narrowly beat for the title in 2008, WA’s young Minnesota
Twins’ gun Liam Hendriks who pitched splendidly in Adelaide
on the same day
The Queensland Rams may well have wished that the series had
stayed in Lismore, rather than shifting location to Windsor’s
Holloway Field
Whether it was the potent pitching of Cox, the awakening New
South Wales offence or the change of venue it probably doesn’t
matter, but the Queensland hosts really could not afford to drop
the final game of this series, let alone by such a lop-sided
score line
Conversely, the Patriots team will return south of the border
feeling quite OK after taking something positive out of a series
that they dropped only narrowly 1-2 in the end
After skipping the early part of the 2009 Claxton Shield, Tim
Cox picked a pretty useful time to return to the mound with a
five inning start that causes us to ponder why he wasn’t
recorded as the winning pitcher?
He mixed a hit per inning with a strike out per inning, while
not allowing an earned run
In fact, had he not coughed up three knocks to “Ram-Rod”
Ram Wade Dutton, he would have kept the hosts base paths very
quiet indeed
New South Wales “Multiple Matts” Williams and Bennett
made sure that Cox’s start was not wasted when they prevented
the Rams from getting any closer than their cosy eight run upper
hand
Rising Minnesota Twin Matthew Williams was solid enough after
allowing a couple of early walks, while Bennett did well pitching
to contact, even if that contact became a little too solid when
Mike Collins smacked one of his offerings out of the yard over
right field
Our spies up north have promised me faithfully that it is not
an early April Fool’s joke when they advised us about Queensland’s
starting pitcher for this game, Naylor
Oh yeh, must be Drew right?
No, try Clint
What the…?
We’re talking about the San Diego Padres pro catcher here,
a guy who has not pitched previously at this level, while we
can’t comment about his junior and/or club career
As Victoria’s rocket-arm catcher Grant Karlsen found out
last summer, pitching to Claxton Shield batters is far from a
picnic!
Given this context, we guess that he didn’t actually disgrace
himself, but then six earned runs after failing to get out of
the fourth inning is not what constitutes a quality start
No thanks to the valuable Matt Timms who cashed in two of those
on his behalf when the first batter he faced, Michael Lysaught,
whacked a three run bomb over right field
One of the by-products of needing to relieve a starter too early
is the tendency to stretch out the remainder of the bullpen
In this case Atlanta rookie Timms might have been throwing on
fumes when he ran into trouble in the seventh
Simon Morriss really struggled in a runaway game, while Independent
League pitcher Nathan Crawford was really tidy this time, but
too late
As noted, Wade Dutton continues to run scalding hot with three
of Queensland’s seven hit total, while young Atlanta Braves
pro James Linger batted 2-4
Michael Collins is also finding his stroke with ominous authority
and he confirmed this again with his solo home run near the end
of this no-contest
Matt Studeman didn’t get to hit after milking three walks
from his four plate appearances
Former pro Michael Lysaught might have launched the biggest blow
for the Patriots with his three-run homer, but it was some of
their newer “Generation Y’ prospects that gave us an
insight into the future of Australian baseball
Former unlucky pro Tim Auty (2-5) is hardly an old-timer, while
Shannon Pender (3-3 2RBIs) might yet be young enough to catch
the eye of US scouts if our new National League happens soon
Joining them as the multi-hit men for the visitors were terrific
young pro prospects; Mets’ Pat Maat (2-4 RBI), Red Sox Mitch
Dening (2-4) and Rockies’ David Kandilas (2-5)
Mark Holland gave another classic example of why there is more
to contributing offensively than safe hits alone when he drove
in three separate runs via two sacrifice flies and a ground ball
fielder’s choice RBI … you have to admire that!
In the wash-up we suppose that the Queenslanders will be a fraction
disappointed that they didn’t match the Patriots’ corresponding
home series sweep, while New South Wales will march on in reasonably
good shape with more of their destiny in their own hands |
