Congrats to LHP Josh Tols, C/OF Chris Burke and RHP Luke Leftwich as members of the 2020/2021 Clayton Shield Champions Melbourne Aces!
Tols was on the hill to close out the Aces 9-2 win over Perth. He went the final 1 1/3 innings and coaxed a 6-4-3 double play ground ball to end the game. It capped a great run for Josh ... in his final 10 appearances of the season he yielded just one run !
Friday night’s game became the Championship Game, rather than a Qualifying Final, under the ABL’s playoff protocols for the impact of COVID-19. The protocols were called upon due to a five day lockdown imposed by Victoria effective 11:59 PM Friday evening.
Eight other Phillies prospects concluded their ABL season as well on Friday as members of the Adelaide Giants. Adelaide lost to Canberra 3-2 in their final contest of the season.
Cornelius Randolph and Rixon Wingrove each had two hits in the game while Mitchell Edwards doubled. Taylor Lehman pitched 2 2/3 scoreless innings and Austin Ross tossed a shutout frame. Ross yielded just one earned run over 10 appearances for Adelaide posting a stingy 0.77 ERA in 11 2/3 IP with 17 K’s 💪👍.
Thus concludes the ABL season ... almost fitting that it ends with a quarantine imposed, it certainly was a struggle for the clubs to play the season but they persevered throughout. Hope all the fellas are able to get home safely and that we see them later this year in Clearwater for minor league camp !
Happy Day, Happy Baseball ⚾️
