Perth Heat win fourth Australian Baseball League title in five years

Thanks to a barrage of home runs, the Perth Heat won their fourth Australian Baseball League championship in the last five years.

Once again, the Perth Heat are the ABL champs. (MLB.com)

Pitchers and catchers are due to start reporting to spring training in a little more than two weeks, but, on the other side of the world in Australia, they have been playing meaningful baseball for weeks. The Australian Baseball League season ended Sunday when the Perth Heat beat the Adelaide Bite 12-5 in the league's title game. Here's the box score.

The Heat are a bonafide ABL dynasty, having now won four titles in the last five seasons. They used a barrage of home runs to beat the Bite on Sunday. Here's the first homer, a first inning two-run shot by former Phillies and Rangers farmhand Tim Kennelly:

In the second inning, Tim Smith followed with two-run homer of his own. Smith and his beard have spent time in the Rangers, Braves and Royals organizations over the years:

Then, in the seventh inning, former Twins infielder Luke Hughes clubbed a three-run shot to put the game away for Perth:

Of course, these games are played in Australia and the ball does fly down under, so the Bite hit three homers of their own in Sunday's game. Former Braves and Tigers farmhand Craig Maddox hit a three-run homer and ex-Red Sox prospect Mitch Dening went deep twice, hitting two solo dingers.

Former A's minor leaguer Scott Mitchinson recorded the final two outs in the ninth to clinch the title. Here's the presentation of the Claxton Shield:

Congrats to the Perth for winning another title. And thanks for hitting some dingers for us baseball-starved fans in early February.