Inglis Pitches In For Europe Tour
Illawarra Mercury
Tuesday April 20, 2004
DAPTO Chiefs pitcher Tim Inglis will tour Europe with the Australian Provincial team after impressing for NSW Country in Mount Gambier last week.
Inglis was one of the better performed pitchers at the Australian Provincial Baseball Championships, helping to guide his team to the final.
NSW Country lost the decider 4-0 to the defending titleholders Victoria Provincial on Saturday, but the performances of Inglis and team-mates Ben Shepherd and Trent D'Antonio could not be faulted over the eight-day tournament.
Western Suburbs Cardinals catcher D'Antonio and Berkeley Eagles' left-fielder Shepherd were also chosen in the Australian Provincial squad but declined the invitation as they'll be unable to tour Europe in mid-2005.
Former Eagles' player Andrew Ferris also made the 32-man squad which will be trimmed to 22 early next year.
D'Antonio had a tremendous tournament for NSW Country, finishing second in the tournament's batting championship.
Shepherd also did well with the bat, registering two home runs.
He was especially impressive in the qualifying final against ACT where his homer secured NSW a hard-fought 4-2 win.
Both D'Antonio and Shepherd were also named in the Australian Provincial Championships' All-Star team chosen after the tournament in their respective positions of catcher and left-fielder.
NSW Country started the tournament brilliantly, defeating Queensland Country 18-4 before downing Victoria Provincial 8-2.
This latter result gave NSW the 2004 Webb Cup, which has been contested between the two sides since 1948.
NSW won five of seven clashes, including a 6-2 victory over South Australia Country and a 29-2 rout of Northern Territory.
Their only other loss, apart from the defeat to Victoria Country in the final, was 16-10 to ACT earlier in the tournament.
© 2004 Illawarra Mercury
