Long ball helps NSW

Illawarra's Tim Atherton and Trent D'Antonio played significant roles in the NSW Patriots' 11-8 win over reigning titleholder Perth Heat in a high-quality Claxton Shield fixture at Fred Finch Park yesterday.Spectators were treated to six home runs, with Atherton slamming a 126m three-run homer in the bottom of the third inning to give NSW a 5-0 lead.Six runs by the Patriots in the third from a Tim Auty double, a Patrick Maat RBI double and Atherton's long ball proved the crucial inning in the outcome of a thrilling game, which was the only Claxton Shield fixture in country NSW this year.D'Antonio played as the designated hitter and also made a good contribution when he batted in two runners in the bottom of the seventh, which took NSW to an 11-8 lead - the final score after Perth had fought back to make it 9-8 in the top of the sixth."It was good to play at home and see familiar faces," D'Antonio said. "We were hoping we could put on a decent show. There were plenty of home runs hit which is always good."It looked like it was going to be a bit of a bashfest from the get-go anyway."NSW out-hit Perth 13-11 and each team made three errors.Pitching for NSW, starter Todd Grattan threw five innings for six hits and four earned runs, reliever Vaughan Harris three innings for five hits and four earned runs and Allessio Angelucci closed out the game in the top of the ninth.For Perth, Liam Hendriks, who was the star winning for the Heat last year, pitched 2.1 innings for three hits and four earned runs, Daniel Schmidt 0.2 innings for five hits and three earned runs, Ryan Kelly 3.1 innings for five hits and four earned runs and Brendan Wise 1.2 innings.Batting for NSW, Shannan Pender hit 3/5, Michael Lysaught 2/5 and D'Antonio 2/5 with three runs batted in.For Perth, Nick Kempton batted 4/5, Daniel Floyd 2/3 and Lachlan Dale 2/4.Before the start of play, one minute's silence was observed in memory and respect for dual Commonwealth Games marathon gold medallist Kerryn McCann, who died last Sunday night and was a big supporter of Illawarra sport, including baseball.The ceremonial first pitch was thrown by legendary baseball coach Al Parrott and recently retired Mercury photographer Wayne Venables.Because of the wet weather in Canberra last Friday, NSW and Perth played a seven innings double-header in the national capital on Saturday with the Patriots winning game one 5-3 and the Heat responding in game two with a 7-2 win.So the Patriots' 11-8 win at Berkeley yesterday was vital in their chance of taking out the Claxton Shield which will be decided next February.The Patriots opened the scoring in the bottom of the second with a Mark Holland lead-off homer which set the tone for the remainder of the game.Then came NSW's six-run haul in the third which put the home side ahead 7-0.The Heat replied with a two-out solo home run by Lachlan Dale in the fourth followed by three runs in the fifth, with a Dean White two-run homer and an RBI single to Chris House cutting the NSW lead to 7-4.NSW came back in the bottom of the fifth with RBI singles to Lysaught and D'Antonio before a three-run homer to Perth's Kempton, followed by a solo homer by Tim Kennelly in the sixth to make the score 9-8 in favour of NSW.Kempton almost gave Perth the lead with two out in the top of the seventh and runners on second and third bases, but a great outfield catch by David Kandilas thwarted his attempt.When D'Antonio batted in two runners and NSW kept Perth runless in the eighth it came down to Angelucci in the top of the ninth. He sealed the win with clinical efficiency.