Atlanta Braves Player Wins The Championship!

The 2015 Major League Baseball season is right ahead the corner as well as pitchers and catchers reporting to their respective Florida or Arizona homes…but a different baseball season just ended this morning – one of which featured an Atlanta Braves player.

The Australian Baseball League had it’s championship series this weekend from February 6-8 and what a matchup it was.  The Perth Heat took on the Adelaide Bite in the championship – as these two teams were the top two in the league throughout the season.  Adelaide ended the regular season on top with a 32-16 record while Perth was just behind with a 28-20 regular season record.

More from Tomahawk Take

• Atlanta Braves 2012 Top Prospects Review: Zeke Spruill
• Braves News: Atlanta extends Sean Murphy, pitcher reunions, more
• Atlanta Braves: Six Braves prospects that could debut in 2023
• Braves News: Braves sign Sean Murphy to six year, $73 million deal
• Braves News: Braves re-sign Stephens, Will Atlanta extend Max Fried?, more

The Atlanta Braves’

plays for the Perth Heat and has since 2010.  The 25-year-old’s home is East Fremantle, Western Australia.  Kennelly has been in the Braves organization since he was 18-years-old when he started with the GCL Braves in rookie ball (spent a portion of 2013 with Cincinnati).  He has bounced around Triple-A, Double-A and Single-A since 2008 – most of his time has been with the Mississippi Braves in Double-A.  He has been invited back to the Braves Spring Training for 2015.

While playing for Perth in the 2014-2015 season he batted .287/.362/.386 with three home runs, eight doubles, 26 RBIs, 28 runs while playing both the catcher and first base positions.

Matt Kennelly gets to play ball with his older brother while playing for Perth – Tim Kennelly.

In the opening game of a three game series, Adelaide took the victory with a 3-2 win.  Kennelly, who has played first base for Perth went 0-2 with two walks.

The second game, which was a must win game for the Perth Heat, Kennelly hit a solo homer in the 3rd inning to put the Heat on the scoreboard.  Perth went on to capture the victory 5-3 to tie the series.  Kennelly went 1-3 at the plate.

The championship game was played on Sunday morning – 3:00am ET time, if you were awake and saw this, cheers! – Perth came out of the gate swinging.  They jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the 2nd inning off the bats of Tim Kennelly – who had a two-run homer and a RBI double – and Tim Smith who had a two-run home run.  Matt Kennelly went 1-3 with two walks. Perth went on to win the game 12-5 and the championship two games to one.  This was Perth’s fourth championship in five seasons and second consecutive as they take home the Claxton Shield.  Want to talk about a dynasty in the ABL?  The series has only been around for five years and Perth has now won four of the five championships.   Congratulations to the Perth Heat and to the Kennelly brothers!  Matt, we’ll see you in Florida for Spring Training