Australian Baseball League: Perth Heat fall to third straight Championship Series loss as Canberra claim win

For the third season in a row, Perth Heat have fallen at the final hurdle as Canberra Cavalry stormed to victory in the Australian Baseball League Championship Series at Empire Ballpark. Having held off Perth 10-8 in game one, the Cavalry produced a dominant performance in game two to win 5-0 and seal victory and hoist the Claxton Shield aloft for the first time in 12 years. It will be a case of ‘what could have been’ for Perth once more, after they hosted the entire series but were well-beaten by Canberra and shut out of a game two win they needed to win. After back-to-back game three Championship Series defeats to Adelaide in previous years, yet another defeat — this one in front of their home fans — will sting even more, particularly after they led at moments throughout game one. But with more than 3000 fans watching on, Perth found the going tough against Canberra pitcher Colten Davis, a one-man wrecking ball on the mound through 8.2 innings, surrendering just five hits while tallying nine strikeouts. Miles Simington picked up from where he left off in game one as his two-run homer gave the Cavalry a second innings lead with Matt Halbach on base. And Perth’s task got even tougher in the third innings when Robbie Perkins drew a walk with the bases loaded, allowing Armond Upshaw to make it 3-0. Although a nifty double-play in the next at-bat looked to have limited the damage for Perth, Simington singled on a line drive to allow Ray Zuberer to return home. The 4-0 lead turned into 5-0 at the top of the fourth when Jason Matthews’ double drove in George Callil, although Tim Kennelly’s throw to home prevented Upshaw from adding another run. At the bottom of the fifth, Jake Bowey drove in a single to move Carlos Colmenarez to second base as the Heat launched an attempted comeback, but Johnny Ascanio’s fly-out on the next at-bat ended the innings. Davis continued to thwart Perth’s batters as hits came increasingly hard to come by as the ninth inning loomed. They had half a chance at reducing the deficit late with two runners on base at the bottom of the ninth, but a Bowey ground out sealed victory for Canberra.