The Herts Eagles were scheduled to play their first league game on the road this Sunday with a trip to Pavilion Field in Brighton to face the A League expansion team which has been imaginatively named, Hove Tuesday. It has just been confirmed that the game has now been postponed and will be played later in the year.
Hove Tuesday entering the league this year was a very positive development not just because of the growth of the British baseball league, but also because this meant that one of the best baseball venues in the country has found a new tenant and teams will once again be able to play there.
For many years the showpiece end-of-season National Championships were held at Pavilion Field. The facility features top specification dugouts, and had one of the best playing surfaces in Great Britain. In the early 2000s it was the home of the Brighton Buccaneers. The club folded but thankfully the Burgess Hill Red Hats moved in to ensure that the facility kept going. They too folded just a few years later which meant that Pavilion Field was left without a baseball tenant. There was a real fear that this wonderful baseball facility will be lost as local authorities could have converted it to be used by another sport.
It looks like the future of Pavilion Field is now secure once again with Hove Tuesday taking some very positive steps. Similar to Herts, Hove Tuesday also received funding from BSUK not only to bring the diamond to its former glory, but also to create additional baseball and softball fields.
The Herts Eagles will be looking forward to making the trip to Brighton later in the year to play this weekend’s rained out A-League game.