By Lance Jenkinson
The title drought is over for the Melbourne Aces.
For the first time in franchise history, the Aces stand on top of the mountain as the Australian Baseball League champions.
The Claxton Shield will return to Victoria for a record-extending 23rd time. Victory was achieved with a 2-0 championship series sweep over Adelaide Giants.
It was a wild series at times. It literally nearly came to blows between the two sets of players at one point.
Cooler heads prevailed and it will best be remembered for excellence on the diamond.
In his acceptance speech, Aces manager Jon Deeble acknowledged the opposition and how hard they made his side work to get their hands on the famous shield.
“Every time we played you, you battled your arses off,” Deeble said.
“You’re a really tough team to beat. “We were still panicking in the ninth inning [of game two].
“You guys never give up. “You’ve got a young team, we’ve been on that other side a couple of years ago and we know it hurts, but you guys have got an outstanding team.”
The scene was set for a tasty series in a fiery game one in Melbourne on Friday night. It was a game that had it all: a streaker, a bench clearing altercation and a walk-off run.
The Aces prevailed 4-3 in a tight and tense game at the Melbourne Ballpark.
Allan de San Miguel, featuring in his last series for the Aces before retiring to local baseball, blasted the ball to left field for the game tying run in the ninth.
Shane Robinson then stepped up and threaded the eye of a needle between the Giants third baseman and the foul line to drive in the Aces winning run.
It was just one of many significant moments produced by Robinson, who was adjudged the most valuable player of the ABL Championship Series.
Robinson went 5-for-10 in the series with three RBIs and a home run.
Darin Downs did a power of work as the Aces starting pitcher in game one, going six innings with seven strikeouts.
While they had the upper hand in the series, Melbourne Aces had to clinch the title the hard way, on enemy soil in Adelaide.
Once the Melbourne Aces took the lead in the third inning, there was no turning back.
The red hot Aces led all the way for a 6-2 game two win to take the series. The Aces bats caught fire between the third and fifth innings, piling on six runs in that time.
Robinson and Delmon Young went big for the Aces with home runs.
Four Aces – Robinson, Young, de San Miguel and Nate Samson – picked up two hits each.
Wes Helsabeck did the bulk of the work on the mound for the Aces, throwing 7.2 innings, giving up just two runs, both home runs.
