Report from Herts Baseball Newswire Correspondent, KEN PIKE
The Raptors travelled to Bracknell to face the Blazers II knowing it would be a tough showdown with the opposition fielding three team GB cadets in their line up. With this in mind the brave young Raptors squad put fear aside and produced their best performance of the year.
Some commanding pitching from Jon Lewys was the trademark of the game as he went the full nine innings showing an ever increasing confidence on the mound. His command of the strike zone was a further step in his development and improvement. Jon is looking to be a star of the team by the end of the season both as a glove, a bat and an arm.
Backing Jon up in the field was no easy task though with Bracknell hitting some powerful shots around the park, including one home run to left field. Never the less, some amazing plays kept the scores within reach including a spectacular sliding catch from Rob Jones to close out an inning.
The batting performances of the day came from player-manager Andrew Slater with two double RBIs, and Steve Nippress who nearly cleared the boundary himself for the Raptors but fell only a couple of yards short of the first HR of his career. The team did well over all racking up 12 runs against two powerful pitchers.
Comedy moment as well as dedication and bravery in the face of overwhelming odds awards go to Iwan Evans who decided to steal home on a passed ball at third. Beaten to the bag by a mile Iwan went for an acrobatic avoidance of the tag resulting in his legs being higher than his head. Result: one out, an injured hip (to add to his arm) and a mouthful of dirt. Luckily our Jackie Chan wannabe was walking again after a brief respite and is sure to be playing next week, even if he is sporting a bruised ego and gluteous maximus.
Returning from an injured right shoulder Ken Pike was forced to take the field earlier than the coach wanted due to the third inning injury of new starter Jeff Witter. As is always the way in such matters the very first hit of the inning went straight to Ken. As was, it ended up in his glove and produced an out at first. Sadly, half an inning later and he was on the ground again having attempted a throw to home plate. After moving to first base he managed to finish the game, and he assures us his arm will be ready next week.
Sadly, despite the team’s bravery and effort, the damage had been done early on and the Raptors were fighting to come back from a 10 run deficit after two innings. The end result of a 12 -23 loss does them credit having kept the gap to 11 by the end of the game. They can still hold their heads high knowing they avoided the mercy rule against a team likely to be a league higher next year.
| Herts Raptors at Bracknell Blazers II | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score By Innings | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
| Herts Raptors | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 12 | 6 | 1 |
| Bracknell Blazers II | 5 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 23 | 22 | 2 |
| Bracknell Blazers II 23, Herts Raptors 12 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bracknell Blazers II | Herts Raptors | ||||||||
| ab | r | h | bi | ab | r | h | bi | ||
| Player 1 p-rf | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | Rob Jones cf | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| Player 2 c | 6 | 2 | 3 | 0 | Ilya Dimitrov ss | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Player 3 1b | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | Jonathon Lewys p | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Player 4 2b | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | Andrew Slater c | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| (t5) Sub 1 2b | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | Steve Nippress 2b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Player 5 3b | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | Ken Pike 1b-2b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Player 6 ss | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | Phil Crooks lf | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| (b5) Sub 3 ss | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | Iwan Evans 3b | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Player 7 lf | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Neil Brackley rf | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| (t5) Sub 2 cf | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | |||||
| Player 8 cf-lf | 6 | 1 | 4 | 2 | |||||
| Player 9 rf-p | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| TEAM TOTALS | 40 | 23 | 22 | 11 | TEAM TOTALS | 22 | 12 | 6 | 6 |
| E: Player 2, Player 3, Steve Nippress. LOB: Herts Raptors 7, Bracknell Blazers II 11. 2B: Player 5, Player 6, Player 9, Steve Nippress, Ken Pike. 3B: Player 6. SB: Player 1(5), Player 3(4), Player 5(3), Sub 1(3), Player 9(2), Player 8(2), Sub 3(2), Player 2, Player 6, Player 4, Player 7, Sub 2, Rob Jones(3), Ilya Dimitrov(3), Andrew Slater(2), Jonathon Lewys, Iwan Evans, Ken Pike, Neil Brackley, Phil Crooks. CS: Iwan Evans. |
| Bracknell Blazers II | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Player 1 W | 6.00 | 4 | 8 | 7 | 12 | 9 |
| Player 9 | 1.00 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| Herts Raptors | ||||||
| Jonathon Lewys L | 6.00 | 22 | 23 | 23 | 10 | 2 |
| HBP: by Jonathon Lewys (Player 9). . . . , by Jonathon Lewys (Player 3). , by Player 1 (Ken Pike). , by Player 9 (Rob Jones). WP: Player 1. T: 4:00. A: 34. |
| Herts Raptors – Top of the 1st: Rob Jones walked, batted forward to 2nd, tagged out going to 3rd. Ilya Dimitrov walked, stole 2nd. Andrew Slater struck out swinging. Steve Nippress struck out looking. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB. |
| Bracknell Blazers II – Bottom of the 1st: Player 1 singled, batted forward to home. Player 2 singled, batted forward to home. Player 3 singled, stole 2nd, stole 3rd, batted forward to home. Player 4 flied out, 1 RBI. Player 5 walked, stole 2nd, batted forward to home. Player 6 walked, batted forward to home. Player 7 flied out. Player 8 singled, stole 2nd, batted forward to 3rd, 1 RBI. Player 9 hit by pitch, batted forward to 2nd. Player 1 walked, 1 RBI. Player 2 popped out. 5 runs, 4 hits, 0 errors, 3 LOB. |
| Herts Raptors – Top of the 2nd: Ken Pike grounded out. Phil Crooks grounded out. Iwan Evans grounded out. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB. |
| Bracknell Blazers II – Bottom of the 2nd: Player 3 popped out. Player 4 singled, stole 2nd, batted forward to home, 1 RBI. Player 5 struck out looking. Player 6 doubled, batted forward to home, 1 RBI. Player 7 singled, batted forward to home. Player 8 singled, batted forward to 3rd, stole home. Player 9 walked, batted forward to 3rd, stole home, 1 RBI. Player 1 singled, stole 2nd, 1 RBI. Player 2 singled. Player 7 popped out. 5 runs, 6 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB. |
| Herts Raptors – Top of the 3rd: Neil Brackley popped out. Rob Jones singled, stole 2nd, stole 3rd, batted forward to home. Ilya Dimitrov walked, stole 2nd, batted forward to home. Jonathon Lewys walked, batted forward to 2nd, stole 3rd. Andrew Slater singled, stole 2nd. Steve Nippress struck out looking. Ken Pike struck out looking. 2 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB. |
| Bracknell Blazers II – Bottom of the 3rd: Player 8 popped out. Player 9 doubled, stole 3rd. Player 1 walked, stole 2nd. Player 2 struck out looking. Player 3 popped out. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 2 LOB. |
| Herts Raptors – Top of the 4th: Phil Crooks walked, advanced to 2nd on wild pitch, batted forward to 3rd, stole home. Iwan Evans walked, batted forward to 2nd, advanced to 3rd on error, batted forward to home. Neil Brackley struck out swinging. Rob Jones walked, advanced to 2nd on error, tagged out going to 3rd. Ilya Dimitrov reached on interference, batted forward to 2nd, forced out at 3rd. Jonathon Lewys singled, advanced to 2nd on error. 2 runs, 1 hit, 2 errors, 1 LOB. |
| Bracknell Blazers II – Bottom of the 4th: Player 4 popped out. Player 5 singled, stole 2nd, batted forward to home. Player 6 tripled, stole home, 1 RBI. Player 7 reached on error, stole 2nd, batted forward to 3rd. Player 8 popped out. Player 9 popped out. 2 runs, 2 hits, 1 error, 1 LOB. |
| Herts Raptors – Top of the 5th: Steve Nippress walked, picked off. Ken Pike doubled, stole 3rd. Phil Crooks struck out looking. Iwan Evans popped out. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB. |
| Bracknell Blazers II – Bottom of the 5th: Player 1 singled, stole 2nd, stole 3rd, stole home. Player 2 walked, advanced to 2nd on error, tagged out going to 3rd. Player 3 hit by pitch, stole 2nd, stole 3rd, batted forward to home. Sub 1 singled, stole 2nd, stole 3rd, stole home. Player 5 singled, stole 2nd, batted forward to home. Sub 3 singled, stole 2nd, stole 3rd, batted forward to home. Sub 2 singled, stole 2nd, batted forward to home. Player 8 singled. Player 9 popped out. Player 1 popped out. 6 runs, 6 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB. |
| Herts Raptors – Top of the 6th: Neil Brackley walked, stole 2nd, batted forward to home. Rob Jones walked, batted forward to home. Ilya Dimitrov walked, batted forward to home. Jonathon Lewys walked, batted forward to home, 1 RBI. Andrew Slater struck out swinging. Steve Nippress struck out swinging. Ken Pike hit by pitch, 1 RBI. Phil Crooks struck out swinging. 4 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB. |
| Bracknell Blazers II – Bottom of the 6th: Player 2 singled, batted forward to 2nd, stole 3rd, batted forward to home. Player 3 popped out. Sub 1 walked, batted forward to home. Player 5 doubled, batted forward to home, 2 RBI. Sub 3 walked, batted forward to home. Sub 2 walked, batted forward to home. Player 8 singled, batted forward to 2nd, 1 RBI. Player 9 popped out. Player 1 walked. Player 2 popped out. 5 runs, 3 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB. |
| Herts Raptors – Top of the 7th: Iwan Evans walked, stole 2nd, caught trying to steal 3rd. Neil Brackley struck out swinging. Rob Jones hit by pitch, batted forward to 2nd, stole 3rd, batted forward to home. Ilya Dimitrov walked, stole 2nd, batted forward to home. Jonathon Lewys walked, batted forward to home. Andrew Slater singled, stole 2nd, batted forward to home, 2 RBI. Steve Nippress doubled, 2 RBI. Ken Pike struck out swinging. 4 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB. |
| Bracknell Blazers II – Bottom of the 7th: 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB. |