The Herts Hawks suffered a heavy defeat against the visiting Bournemouth Sharks in their fifth game of the 2008 British Baseball’s AA league season.
There were a large number of fans who had come out to support the Hawks, but unfortunately nothing seemed to be going right for the home team on the day. They managed to keep within reach in the first 3 innings, but never managed to deliver the much needed hit with runners in scoring positions. They left 10 runners on base during the game. The only Hawk who seemed to be seeing the ball well was Louis Hare (3-3) who kept fighting even when the game was beyond the Hawks. He also performed well on the mound with good control, allowing only two walks. He did not receive help from his teammates who committed an uncharacteristically high number of errors in the field (10). Despite the demoralising score, the fans were once again able to witness some spectacular plays from 14-year old, Luis Goncalves at shortstop for the Hawks.
Late in the game, Rod Ariss, who had received a call up from the Herts single-A team, the Raptors, marked his debut in AA with a fine play in right field. Another debutant was catcher Dave Westfallen, who is wearing the Herts jersey again after an absence of nearly 10 years.
The Sharks were missing their two big starting pitchers who were dominating the league last year, but in their place were some new faces from Latin America. A new pitcher, catcher and infielders have made the Sharks a formidable defensive force and they will be winning many games this year. They allowed 1 run and committed only 1 error.
After a promising start of the season with two big wins, the Hawks have now recorded three loses in a row and they need to bring their season back on track as soon as possible. In situations like this players usually want the next game to come as soon as possible to wipe the memory of those defeats, but unfortunately for the Hawks, they will have to wait until 1 June for their next league game at home against the Richmond Dragons. Until then, Hawks manager, Carlos Casal, has ordered extra training this week.
| Bournemouth Sharks at Herts Hawks | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score By Innings | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
| Bournemouth Sharks | 0 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 11 | 1 |
| Herts Hawks | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 8 |
| Bournemouth Sharks 14, Herts Hawks 1 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bournemouth Sharks | Herts Hawks | ||||||||
| ab | r | h | bi | ab | r | h | bi | ||
| Player 1 c | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | Tim Elkins lf | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Player 2 cf-rf | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | (b5) Stuart Boast lf-cf-p | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Player 3 1b | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Luis Goncalves ss | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Player 4 p-ss | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | (b5) Rod Ariss rf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Player 5 ss-p | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | Louis Hare p-3b | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Player 6 3b | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | John Oliver 1b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Player 7 lf | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | Humberto Goncalves 2b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Player 8 2b | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Kal Dimitrov c-cf-lf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Player 9 rf-cf | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | Carlos Casal 3b-cf | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Nick Russell rf-ss | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |||||
| Dave Hamilton cf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| (b5) Dave Westfallen c | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| TEAM TOTALS | 38 | 14 | 11 | 12 | TEAM TOTALS | 23 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
| E: Player 5, Nick Russell(3), Luis Goncalves(2), Carlos Casal(2), Tim Elkins. DP: Bournemouth Sharks 1. LOB: Bournemouth Sharks 8, Herts Hawks 10. 2B: Player 4, Player 6, Player 7. SB: Player 4, Player 6, Player 7, Player 2, Player 8, Player 9. CS: Luis Goncalves, Tim Elkins, Louis Hare. SF: Player 9. |
| Bournemouth Sharks | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Player 4 W | 4.33 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 1 |
| Player 5 | 2.67 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Herts Hawks | ||||||
| Louis Hare L | 6.33 | 11 | 14 | 7 | 2 | 3 |
| Stuart Boast | 0.67 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| HBP: by Louis Hare (Player 7). . . . . . WP: Player 4. PB: Kal Dimitrov(2). T: 2:33. A: 48. |