Sydney and Canberra still lead ABL - Ninemsn

Sydney and Canberra remain deadlocked at the top of the Australian Baseball League after splitting their round 12 series.

Neither club was able to extend their lead in a tightly contested playoff race between five of the league's six clubs that will go down to final week of regular season.

Sydney tallied a season-high 17 hits, including five from Trent D'Antonio, to defeat Canberra 12-8 in the opening match in which Sydney starter Craig Anderson earned his seventh win of the season, a new ABL record.

Canberra charged back to get the walkoff win, 8-7, in the second contest after Antonio Callaway hit a game-winning single in the bottom of the ninth.

Sydney hit back in game three, with Mitch Dening driving in four runs in a 10-2 blowout. Dening finished just one home run short of batting for the cycle.

Canberra earned the series split by taking game four, 4-3, in a twelve-inning marathon that was finally decided on a throwing error from Sydney.

Canberra (24-18) conclude their season next weekend at Adelaide while Sydney (24-18) will host Brisbane in a matchup with substantial playoff implications.

The Bandits continued their incredible late-season turnaround by snatching the ABL's final playoff spot away from Perth with a series win.

The Heat used a late-inning rally to take game one, 5-4. Brisbane took game two, 2-0, in a tightly contested pitchers' duel.

The Bandits batters found their groove in game three, with C.J Beatty, David Sutherland and David Battaglia each contributing homers in their 8-5 win.

The Bandits continued to roll in the final match, with starter Rhys Niit (2-2) keeping the Perth bats quiet all game to lead Brisbane to the 8-2 win.

Brisbane now sits in third place at 22-20 and will look to clinch their first ever post-season berth in the series against Sydney.

The Heat (21-21) now sit on the playoff bubble trailing Brisbane by one game, however, they have a chance to salvage their season when hosting last-placed Melbourne.

The Aces won the first two games of their round twelve series against Adelaide, 3-2 and 8-2. Carlo Testa led the way with two home runs and four RBI for across the first two games.

Adelaide fought back to win game three, 12-6, and continued their hot-hitting in their final match with a 9-0 rout of Melbourne.

With the series split, Adelaide (20-22) kept slim playoff chances alive but they'll face a tough test at home in round thirteen against Canberra.