Report from Herts Baseball Newswire Correspondent, KAL DIMITROV
The Herts Hawks’ second game of the season was away at the Croydon Pirates III. Irrespective of the not very encouraging weather forecast, it was a beautiful day for baseball. Unfortunately, the sun did not shine on the Hawks defence, neither were their bats very “warm” in the first half of the game. Despite some crafty pitching by veteran Marty “I pitched in the Polo Grounds” Cullen, the Pirates’ big bats Woods and Ssali did some big damage, exacerbated by some defensive hiccups.
In the top of the seventh inning, the Hawks were facing a 12-4 deficit. However, from the 6th inning onward, the Herts bats had started coming to life with some timely hitting, in particular a couple of big rips by Cullen and Boast and a massive double the other way by Paul Auchterlounie to bring in the runner from first. Base-running was also adventurous, spurred on by the urgings of canny third-base coach and infielder-pitcher-outfielder extraordinaire the Motion Bochan – sometimes a tad too adventurous.
The closer the game became, the more the Hawks’ spirits were lifting, and Cullen made a shrewd move by picking Nick Russell from all other options that he had available in the bullpen. Russell was outstanding, throwing strikes and getting out of jams, and would have been out of his two innings scot-free but for an outfield error.
Despite the loss, the Hawks showed guts, and the all too-important quality of not giving up. There are just a few things to rectify before we see the final product in action – defence, batting and base-running – but otherwise the Hawks are already showing the promise that they hinted at in spring training.
More images from the Hawks' game at Croydon
| Herts Hawks at Croydon Pirates III | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score By Innings | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Herts Hawks | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 12 | 11 | 7 |
| Croydon Pirates III | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 14 | 16 | 7 |
| Croydon Pirates III 14, Herts Hawks 12 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Croydon Pirates III | Herts Hawks | ||||||||
| ab | r | h | bi | ab | r | h | bi | ||
| S Limn ss-c | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | Tim Grant ss | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| A Okada 2b | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | Nick Russell 3b-p | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| B Woods 3b | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | Marty Cullen p-3b | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| M Ford c-ss | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 | Stuart Boast 1b | 6 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| T Ssali p | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 | Tim Elkins 2b | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| L Leboffe 1b | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Kal Dimitrov rf-c | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| F Kucharski rf | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Paul Auchterlounie c-cf | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| M George lf | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | (t8) Ilya Dimitrov cf | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| (t8) B Vickers lf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Chris Wylie lf | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| C Routledge cf | 5 | 1 | 2 | 0 | Ade Orioye cf-rf | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| TEAM TOTALS | 41 | 14 | 16 | 10 | TEAM TOTALS | 43 | 12 | 11 | 8 |
| E: S Limn(2), A Okada, B Woods, M Ford, T Ssali, L Leboffe, Tim Grant(2), Nick Russell, Stuart Boast, Paul Auchterlounie, Chris Wylie, Ilya Dimitrov. LOB: Croydon Pirates III 8, Herts Hawks 10. 2B: M Ford, Tim Grant, Paul Auchterlounie. 3B: B Woods. HR: T Ssali. SB: A Okada(2), S Limn(2), C Routledge(2), L Leboffe, Tim Grant(2), Kal Dimitrov(2), Stuart Boast, Chris Wylie, Ilya Dimitrov, Ade Orioye, Marty Cullen, Paul Auchterlounie, Tim Elkins. CS: F Kucharski, Paul Auchterlounie. SB: L Leboffe. SF: M Ford. |
| Croydon Pirates III | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| T Ssali W | 9.00 | 11 | 12 | 6 | 3 | 11 |
| Herts Hawks | ||||||
| Marty Cullen L | 6.00 | 12 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 4 |
| Nick Russell | 2.00 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| HBP: by T Ssali (Tim Grant). . . . . . , by T Ssali (Kal Dimitrov). , by T Ssali (Ade Orioye). . WP: T Ssali(5), Marty Cullen. PB: M Ford, Paul Auchterlounie(2). Balk: T Ssali. T: 3:28. A: 35. |