Photo by Lawrence Trevanion

The ACT Schoolboys rewritten the record books following a brilliant Silver medal finish at the recent National Championships held in Perth.

ACTAS Head Coach, Brent Phelan writes below his report from the recent Australian Schoolboy National Championships Where the ACT team clinched a brilliant Silver medal in Perth.

May 10 Vs WA

Good start to the tournament with a 9-8 win over WA. We jumped out of the blocks quickly scoring early with RBI hits to Calvert, Warner, Burdin and Bishell. Through the first six innings Aaron Sloan dominated on the mound only allowing four hits striking out twelve and allowing no runs which left us with a comfortable 5-0 lead. We added another run in the 7th when Barnes scored on a wild pitch. Warner came in to relieve Sloan on the mound and cruised through the 7th but ran into trouble in the 8th.

WA mounted a comeback and after a costly error. With what would become a theme for the ACT team they mounted a comeback in the 9th inning. One out back to back hits from Bishell and Lott got the rally started, two walks and three wild pitches got us back in front 9-7. Things got interesting in the bottom of the inning when we walked two guys and gave up a run but nice plays by Barnes and Lott snuffed out the rally.

Burdin got the win on the mound as well as going 2-5 with a HR and Bishell was the leader with the bat going 3-4.

May 11 Vs NSW

A tough day for the boys after a draining win the night before, Eden Kelly made his schoolboys debut on the mound and made quick work of the NSW hitters in the 1st. Unfortunately NSW would explode over the next two innings putting on 10 runs to take over the game. Ciaron Edwards came on in relief and slowed their bats a little but NSW were still able to add another 5 runs in the last two frames. Offensively we struggled most of the game only managing 1 run on 4 hits. Top performers with the bat were Calvert 2-3, Bishell 1-2 and Sloan 1-3.

May 11 Vs SA

A game that we expected to win but poor defence and missed opportunities would see us going down 12-7.

We got out early and seemed to be cruising, Burdin had an RBI double in the 1st, Sloan had an RBI double in the second and an SA throwing error allowed us to add three runs in the inning. RBI singles from Shaw and Bishell and an RBI ground out from Barnes allowed us to tack on 3 more runs and take a 7-2 lead through 5 ½ innings.

SA would bounce back helped out by 3 walks and 2 errors in the 6th scoring 7 runs and giving SA a 9-7 lead. SA would add to the lead in the 6th with 3 more runs which would be where the game ended. Aaron Peoples and Jason Lott did a good job on the mound but were let down by errors. With the bat Burdin was again a standout going 2-4 with a double, Sloan, Perkins, Bishell, Shaw, and Lott all collected one hit each.

May 12 Vs Vic

This game was close to a must win for both teams and as such we ran into Victoria’s ace and Australian AA representative last year. It was a tough day with the bats as we were held hitless for the game.

On the mound Robbie Perkins did an outstanding job keeping us in the game and throwing 6 innings allowing 7 hits and 3 runs. Sutherland came in to relieve Perkins and was let down by some poor defence which saw the score blow out in the last inning. Final score Victoria 9 ACT 0.

May 12 Vs QLD

With results going our way the final game of the first round would see the winner of ACT and QLD go through into the top three for the second round.

Recently turned 14yr James Trevanion took the ball for us and did a great job through 3 innings, James allowed 4 hits, 2 runs but only 1 earned run. We started where we left off with the bats again struggling to get anything going which left us behind 2-0 through 3 innings.

In the fourth the offence started to get rolling and the Queensland pitching started to unravel, 2 walks, 2 hits and an error allowed us to score 4 runs and take the lead. Queensland would answer right back with a HR and an RBI single in the 5th to tie the game off Calvert who relieved Trevanion.

The game would stay tied to the bottom of the 7th as Calvert held them scoreless over their last two frames, the schoolboys championships does not allow for extra innings, in order to advance we had to win and for QLD a tie would see them go through.

With 1 out in the bottom of the 7th Lott reached on an error and Edwards singled to right, after a strike out we were down to our last out when Calvert stepped up and drilled a ball into the left centre alley to bring home the winning run and put us into the top 3 for the third year in a row.

With the bat Edwards led the way going 3-4. Calvert, Warner, Sloan and Lott all collected 1 hit each.

May 14 Vs Vic

Photo by Lawrence Trevanion

The first semi final game, with the way the rules are structured in the schoolboys and with the results from the first round a win in this game would put us directly into the gold medal game.

Victoria took the early lead when they strung a couple of hits together scoring a run of starter Aaron Sloan. The score would stay the same until the fourth when with one out Aaron Sloan had to be taken out of the game with some soreness in his shoulder.

Burdin came on to relieve and gave up back to back hits to give Victoria a 2-0 lead. We came straight back in the 5th as Lott walked and with 2 out Calvert had an RBI triple and Warner followed with an RBI single to tie the game. In the 6th Victoria would again take the lead after a 2 out wild pitch with a man on third. Again down to our last at bat we would rally, with 2 out and nobody on, Edwards and Calvert both walked, Warner singled to right to tie the game, and Sutherland doubled to right to give us the lead. After some scary moments in the 7th Burdin got the final out of the game with a pop up to left with the bases loaded. Final score ACT 4 Vic 3

Both guys on the mound did a great job with Burdin picking up his second win of the tournament. With the bat the two guys at the top of the order Calvert and Warner both picked up 2 hits and drove in three runs.

May 14 Vs NSW

Even though we were in the final we still went after NSW to try and take some momentum into the final.

Lott started on the mound and did a good job against a powerful offence going three innings and only giving up 2 earned runs. Due to his pitch count though he had to be removed and he was relieved by Jacob Shaw. Jacob was outstanding however our defence let him down as he allowed 6 runs over the next two innings of which none of them were earned. Eden Kelly came on for his second appearance of the tournament and looked far more comfortable as he threw the final inning only allowing one hit. We struggled offensively again as we only managed three hits for the game, Sutherland led the way going 2-2 and Calvert was 1-2. Final score NSW 10 ACT 0

May 15 Vs NSW

The final would see us match up against the undefeated NSW team who had steamrolled everybody they had played to date. That didn’t seem to bother us at all as we jumped on them in the top of the first inning.

Calvert led off with a walk then stole second and then scored when the catcher threw the ball into left field trying to catch him stealing 3rd. Sloan then walked and double to Burdin and Perkins saw us take a 3-0 lead.

With Aaron Peoples on the mound NSW would bounce right back and score in the bottom half of the inning after a lead off double came around to score. NSW were at it again in the second when three straight hits saw them tie the game at 3. We would run into trouble again in the fourth as the NSW bats kept firing, Peoples was removed and Warner bought on after 3 runs had scored in the inning and he did a great job of getting us out of a jam.

We rallied again in the fifth with doubles to Warner and Burdin, a single to Sloan and a sac fly to Perkins would see us cut into the lead and only trail 6-5. That’s as close as we would get though as NSW pulled away scoring 2 runs in the 6th and 2 runs in the 7th to eventually win the game 10-5.

Warner, Sloan and Burdin all collected two hits each and Perkins had one hit and 3 RBI’s.

The second place finish was the highest an ACT team had ever finished at the Schoolboys tournament which was extremely satisfying to me as the coach. We took away a team that was close to having an average age of 1-2 years younger than the competition. Although we had the great result of finishing second I don’t believe that we played to our capabilities throughout the tournament and could have finished with a better win loss record than we did. What was pleasing for me was how we performed under pressure and time after time rallied from behind to win games.

Good teams and players win close games and we did that. As a team we really had no stand out players, everyday it seemed to be someone different who contributed or got the big hit. Sloan was named to the All-Star team as a utility after two outstanding starts on the mound and doing a solid job with the bat.

Tournaments such as schoolboys are a great benefit to us for a number of reasons, firstly they give us a chance to play games in a time of year that we wouldn’t ordinarily have the chance.

Australian players in general need to play more games throughout the year to try and catch our high school player in the US and this allows us to help with that.

A tournament like this also gives players a chance to showcase their skills on a national stage where they haven’t been seen since the underage national championships in January. Playing games also allows me as a coach to teach, only so many things can be manufactured in a training session, playing games allows us to identify plays or situations and teach players how to play the game. And finally is gives me as a coach and the players a chance to measure themselves against the other best players that the country has to offer.

I think the future for baseball in Canberra is looking up, right now in the ACTAS program we have a talented squad which is evident by the five players selected to go to the MLBAAP on the Gold Coast this year. Although sometimes a little short on overall numbers our best players can compete at a national and international level. I fully believe that the new national league team here in Canberra is only going to enhance that along with boosting our game at a grass roots level.

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