From special Newswire correspondent Jamie Munn:
After two tough losses to the London Mets, The Herts Falcons rebounded in the best way possible, by taking two from the Bracknell Blazers at Grovehill park.
After two tough losses to the London Mets, The Herts Falcons rebounded in the best way possible, by taking two from the Bracknell Blazers at Grovehill park.
In a fiercely fought league which sees the Falcons, Mets, Blazers & Flames constantly changing places, the Falcons reminded everyone that they are not to be taken lightly.
With the reliable Darrin Ward on the mound in game one for Herts, the phrases, ‘put the ball in play’, ‘make them make the outs’, ‘good defence’ & ‘Mr Ward will do the rest’ rang true. With 3 consecutive doubles to lead of the bottom of the 3rd from Andy Cornish, Lin Yuchih & Dan Kerry, the Falcons jumped to an early advantage, the same trio produced the goods in the bottom of the fourth, after Luis singled, Andy walked advanced to second on a wild pitch with Lin and Dan delivering singles as the Falcons took a 5-1 lead.
The top of the 5th however was anything but simple as the Falcons committed several errors with two outs. Bracknell scored 4 runs with the help of singles from Mike Trask, Connor Vernon & Matt Maitland, all of sudden the Falcons were back in a contest at 5-5.
The game wasn’t tied for long though, as the Falcons put one run on the board when Jason Greenberg singled, stole 2nd, advanced to 3rd on error, advanced to home on another error which Greenberg earned with good thinking. Darrin Ward recorded a quick 1-2-3 top of the sixth before the Falcons added another run in the bottom half of the inning when Luis Goncalves walked, advanced to 2nd on an error, stole 3rd & was batted forward to home.
With the score 7-5 to the Falcons & heading into the bottom of the seventh, it was up to Herts to finish it off. The inning started with a walk to Max Flasher with Jamie Fod pinch running. Matt Maitland then bunted putting runners at the corners, until the home plate umpire called Maitland out for touching home plate with his foot when bunting. So instead of 1st & 3rd with no outs, Bracknell had Jamie Fod at 1st with 1 out. Ward then struck out Connor Vernon looking. Deme van Nickerk singled to keep the Blazers alive but Cody Shepherd popped out with Darrin Ward and the Herts Falcons taking game 1.
The Falcons Nick Goetz had no intention of Game 2 having any other outcome than game 1. Finishing with figures of 7Innings pitched, 9hits, 3strikeouts and 2earned runs, Goetz produced another quality start which was backed by the Falcons bats coming from behind.
Trailing 6-3 going into the bottom of the fourth, Aspi Dimitrov walked and with two outs, batting 3, 4 & 5, Lin Yuchih, Darrin Ward & Dan Kerry all singled to reduce the deficit to 6-5. Lin, Darrin & Dan continue to showcase their great hitting ability as they finished a combined 6 for 10 with 4 rbi’s, and 5 runs.
Goetz was able to blank the Blazers in the 5th and 6th innings on just the required 6outs but was still trailing 6-5, until the bottom of the sixth when the Falcons batted round, scoring 5 runs, 3 coming with two outs. Dan Kerry, Kimiyoshi Saionji & Lee Manning all hitting singles, with Bracknell committing costly errors.
Nick was able to close the game out without conceding any more runs as the Herts Falcons took game two 10-6 to finish the week with a 10-6 record in the NBL. Next up for the Falcons is Croydon at Grovehill Park with a sweep guaranteeing Herts a place in this years Playoffs. An outcome only the Falcons had in mind at the start of the season.
GAME ONE
| Bracknell Blazers at Herts Falcons | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score By Innings | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
| Bracknell Blazers | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 4 |
| Herts Falcons | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 5 |
| Herts Falcons 7, Bracknell Blazers 5 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Herts Falcons | Bracknell Blazers | ||||||||
| ab | r | h | bi | ab | r | h | bi | ||
| Luis Goncalves ss | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | Player 1 c | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Andy Cornish rf | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | (t4) Sub 6 c | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Lin Yuchih dh | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | Player 2 lf | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Dan Kerry cf | 3 | 0 | 2 | 3 | Player 3 p-cf | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Kimiyoshi Saionji 2b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Player 4 1b | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Jason Greenberg c | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | Player 5 2b | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| John Oliver 1b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | (t7) Sub 4 pr-2b | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nick Goetz 3b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Player 6 cf | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Jamie Munn lf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | (t4) Sub 1 p | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Darrin Ward p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Player 7 ss | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Player 8 3b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |||||
| Player 9 rf | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |||||
| TEAM TOTALS | 24 | 7 | 7 | 5 | TEAM TOTALS | 32 | 5 | 9 | 3 |
| E: Luis Goncalves, Andy Cornish, Kimiyoshi Saionji, Nick Goetz, Jamie Munn, Sub 6(2), Player 8, Sub 1. LOB: Herts Falcons 6, Bracknell Blazers 10. 2B: Andy Cornish, Dan Kerry, Lin Yuchih. 3B: Player 6. SB: Lin Yuchih(2), Luis Goncalves(2), Jason Greenberg(2), Player 5, Player 9. SF: Dan Kerry. |
| Herts Falcons | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Darrin Ward | 7.00 | 9 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| Bracknell Blazers | ||||||
| Player 3 | 3.00 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| Sub 1 | 3.00 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
HBP: by Player 3 (Jason Greenberg). . . , by Darrin Ward (Player 5). . . WP: Sub 1.
PB: Player 1(2). T: 3:00. A: 0.
GAME TWO
| Bracknell Blazers at Herts Falcons | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score By Innings | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
| Bracknell Blazers | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 9 | 6 |
| Herts Falcons | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 10 | 8 | 5 |
| Herts Falcons 10, Bracknell Blazers 6 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Herts Falcons | Bracknell Blazers | ||||||||
| ab | r | h | bi | ab | r | h | bi | ||
| Luis Goncalves ss | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Player 1 lf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Andy Cornish lf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Player 2 2b | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Lin Yuchih 2b | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Player 3 cf-ss | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Darrin Ward 3b | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | Player 4 dh-1b | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Dan Kerry cf | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | Player 5 1b-3b | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Mike Wakelam dh | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | (b3) Sub 2 c | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| (b6) Kimiyoshi Saionji dh | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Player 6 ss | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Louis Hare 1b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | (b1) Sub 1 pr-p | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Lee Manning c | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | (b3) Sub 4 p | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Aspi Dimitrov rf | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Player 7 c-3b | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| Nick Goetz p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Player 8 rf | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Player 9 cf-3b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| TEAM TOTALS | 29 | 10 | 8 | 6 | TEAM TOTALS | 29 | 6 | 9 | 2 |
| E: Darrin Ward(2), Lin Yuchih, Luis Goncalves, Aspi Dimitrov, Player 3(2), Player 1, Player 4, Player 5, Player 6. LOB: Herts Falcons 8, Bracknell Blazers 10. SB: Player 3, Player 4, Player 9. CS: Dan Kerry. SB: Player 9, Player 1. |
| Herts Falcons | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Nick Goetz | 7.00 | 9 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 3 |
| Bracknell Blazers | ||||||
| Sub 4 | 4.00 | 7 | 9 | 2 | 5 | 6 |
| Sub 1 | 2.00 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
HBP: by Nick Goetz (Player 4). . . , by Nick Goetz (Player 4). . WP: Sub 4. PB: Sub
2(4). Balk: Nick Goetz. T: 3:00. A: 0.