Aussie Astros Capture Gold, Silver at Australian U-18 Championships

Congratulations to Connor MacDonald, Hayden Timberlake, and their teammates from Team Queensland!

Connor and Hayden were named to Team Queensland for the 2014 Under-18 National Youth Championships, which was held in Canberra from January 5-12. Queensland went 6-1 in the first phase, which was a round-robin; their lone loss came to South Australia. They qualified as the top seed in Pool A, which consisted of the top 4 teams in round-robin play.

In pool play, Queensland was 2-1, with their lone loss coming in the 2nd game of pool play (and Friday), which was a 6-4 decision to a Western Australia squad featuring Jake Bowey. It was a measure of revenge for Team Western Australia, as they were clobbered 11-1 by Queensland on Thursday in the final round-robin game for both squads. In the end, though, Queensland would have the last laugh, as they won it all with a 3-1 victory over WA in the championship game.

We at What the Heck, Bobby? would also like to congratulate Jake Bowey and Team WA on their 2nd-place finish. Jake had a fine tournament himself, leading Western Australia in batting average and slugging percentage.

When Connor MacDonald, Hayden Timberlake, and Jake Bowey were signed, the Astros considered them to be premier young talents from Australia, and their excellent showings on the national stage this past week definitely come as positive signs for the Astros.

Now that their time as adversaries is over, we're looking forward to seeing them begin their Astros careers together.

Here are the final statistics for Connor MacDonald and Hayden Timberlake, and Jake Bowey's stats can be viewed here.

Queensland 3, Western Australia 1

Team Queensland was crowned National U-18 Champions on the strength of 3 unanswered runs and a fine performance from their 3 pitchers.

Queensland
RF Connor MacDonald: 1-3, RBI, R, BB; he reached on an error in the 4th, but was credited with an RBI.
C Hayden Timberlake: 0-4

Western Australia
C Jake Bowey: 0-3, BB