South Australia have broken a 30 year drought as they claimed the U18 Australian Championship at Blacktown International Sportspark this afternoon.
Behind a stunning start from Adelaide Bite representative Tyson McKee, South Australia defeated Queensland 9-0.
McKee finished with seven shutout innings on the day, scattering four hits and striking out five in a performance for the ages.
Queensland starting pitcher Kaiki Furutani-Burns battled all afternoon against a tough SA lineup, but South Australia broke the game wide open in the fourth inning.
Jarrod Miller began the fourth with a leadoff double, and capped it off seven runs later with his second double of the inning.
Miller finished the ballgame with two doubles, three RBI and a seventh inning home run, sending his South Australia teammates into raptures on the bench.
As they have done all tournament, South Australia’s pitching and defence lead the foundation for the victory, which enabled their bats to string together multiple hits.
Queensland played some outstanding baseball all tournament, but they ran into a high quality arm and a red-hot South Australian offence.
This U18 Australian Championship is South Australia’s first in 30 years, with the 1988 team including former MLBer Mark Hutton and Adelaide Bite General Manager Nathan Davison.