Sunday, 11 February 2018:
Brisbane have won their third consecutive Australian Baseball League title with a 4-2 victory over Canberra in the deciding game.
With their best-of-three ABL championship series tied at 1-1, the Claxton Shield was on the line at Wild Moose Stadium in storm-hit Brisbane on Sunday night.
Former Major League pitcher Travis Blackley starred for the Bandits, completing six scoreless innings, conceding one hit and one walk and striking out two.
With back-to-back singles by Logan Wade and Mitch Nilsson, Brisbane got off to a perfect start when Adam Weisenburger hit Cavalry starting pitcher Frank Gailey deep to open up a 3-0 lead.
Nilsson's sixth-inning homer extended the Bandits' advantage to 4-0.
Game three was not without drama as Brisbane manager David Nilsson and first base coach Adrian Lamb were ejected as the benches cleared twice.
Play also stopped for more than an hour as a storm tore across Brisbane.
The first bench-clearing brawl came as Gailey hit Andrew Campbell with a pitch after giving up the solo shot to Nilsson.
They cleared a second time after tempers flared when Campbell was caught stealing second base.
Canberra cut a run off Brisbane's lead in the seventh inning when Jay Baum singled and then scored on a throwing error by David Sutherland.
Kyle Perkins hit a solo homer off reliever Matt Timms when play resumed following the rain delay to make it 4-2.
But it wasn't enough as the Bandits claimed their third-straight crown following triumphs over Melbourne and Adelaide in the past two seasons.
Closer Ryan Searle secured the final five outs to complete the come-from-behind series win.
