This article by Joe Gray first appeared on www.mister-baseball.com
The Herts Falcons and London Mets made their moves in Week 11 of national Baseball League play on 28 June, sweeping their respective double-headers to pull away at the top of the standings.
The Falcons saw off the still-winless Croydon Pirates, while the Mets brushed past the Richmond Flames.
Richmond v London
London travelled to Richmond and came away with 5-0 and 9-3 wins behind the pitching of Jason Roberts and Reed Wilson. And Mets coach Alex Pike reckons his side will be the team to beat from now on.
“We are starting to get going,” Alex said. “We have most of our players back and I honestly don’t think we will lose another game this season. Richmond swept us at the start of the season so to come here and win both games really shows we are up and running.”
For Flames coach Grant Delzoppo, who smacked a home run in Game Two, it was a disappointing afternoon.
“We made far too many errors,” Grant said “and we got punished. They pitched well and played great defence, and we couldn’t get many hits. The Mets are a great team and they were definitely better than us on the day.”
Herts v Croydon
For the Croydon Pirates, it was once again a hard-luck story, performing well but coming up short in both games at Herts’ Grovehill Ballpark, including an agonising 12-11 loss in Game Two after losing Game One 11-2.
But for Pirates coach Dave Ward, it is a case of taking the positives.
“All in all it was a pretty good day for us,” Dave said. “We are certainly getting there and we gave them a bit of a shock in the second game. We are building each week, but unfortunately it is a slow process.”
View more images from the Croydon Pirates @ Herts Falcons NBL game
GAME 1
| Croydon Pirates at Herts Falcons | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score By Innings | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
| Croydon Pirates | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 4 |
| Herts Falcons | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 11 | 9 | 2 |
| Herts Falcons 11, Croydon Pirates 2 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Herts Falcons | Croydon Pirates | ||||||||
| ab | r | h | bi | ab | r | h | bi | ||
| Riley Fisher 3b | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Player 1 c-p | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kimiyoshi Saionji 2b | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Player 2 2b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Lin Yuchih ss | 5 | 2 | 5 | 2 | Player 3 p | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Darrin Ward p | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | (b5) Sub 10 p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jamie Munn lf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | (b6) Sub 11 1b | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Aspi Dimitrov cf | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Player 4 3b | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Lee Manning c | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | Player 5 lf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nick Goetz rf | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | Player 6 cf | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Andy Cornish 1b | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Player 7 ss | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Player 8 rf | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |||||
| Player 9 1b-c | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |||||
| TEAM TOTALS | 25 | 11 | 9 | 6 | TEAM TOTALS | 29 | 2 | 7 | 2 |
| E: Kimiyoshi Saionji(2), Player 7(2), Player 3, Player 9. DP: Croydon Pirates 2. LOB: Croydon Pirates 6, Herts Falcons 11. 2B: Lin Yuchih, Player 4. SB: Lee Manning(3), Lin Yuchih, Nick Goetz, Andy Cornish, Player 7, Player 6. CS: Riley Fisher. SF: Jamie Munn. |
| Herts Falcons | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Darrin Ward W | 7.00 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| Croydon Pirates | ||||||
| Player 3 L | 4.67 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 9 | 1 |
| Sub 10 | 0.67 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Player 1 | 0.67 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| HBP: by Player 3 (Darrin Ward). . . . . . . WP: Player 3(2), Sub 10, Player 1. PB: Lee Manning(2). T: 3:00. A: 48. |
GAME 2
| Croydon Pirates at Herts Falcons | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score By Innings | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
| Croydon Pirates | 2 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 11 | 5 |
| Herts Falcons | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 12 | 9 | 5 |
| Herts Falcons 12, Croydon Pirates 11 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Herts Falcons | Croydon Pirates | ||||||||
| ab | r | h | bi | ab | r | h | bi | ||
| Lee Manning rf | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Player 1 ss | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Kimiyoshi Saionji 2b | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | Player 2 p-1b | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Lin Yuchih ss | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | Player 3 1b-cf-p | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| Darrin Ward 3b | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | Player 4 3b | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| Jamie Munn lf | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Player 5 2b | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Aspi Dimitrov cf | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Player 6 cf-p | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Louis Hare 1b | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | Player 7 c | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Riley Fisher dh | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Player 8 lf | 4 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| Andy Cornish c | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | Player 9 rf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nick Goetz p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | (b4) Sub 10 rf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| TEAM TOTALS | 30 | 12 | 9 | 6 | TEAM TOTALS | 36 | 11 | 11 | 9 |
| E: Darrin Ward(2), Kimiyoshi Saionji, Lin Yuchih, Jamie Munn, Player 1(2), Player 4, Player 5, Player 7. DP: Croydon Pirates 2. LOB: Herts Falcons 7, Croydon Pirates 7. 2B: Darrin Ward(2), Player 4, Player 2, Player 8. SB: Jamie Munn(3), Louis Hare(3), Lee Manning(2), Aspi Dimitrov(2), Kimiyoshi Saionji(2), Andy Cornish(2), Lin Yuchih, Player 7(2), Player 4, Player 6, Player 1. |
| Herts Falcons | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Nick Goetz W | 7.00 | 11 | 11 | 5 | 2 | 5 |
| Croydon Pirates | ||||||
| Player 2 L | 3.67 | 6 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 3 |
| Player 3 | 2.00 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Player 6 | 0.33 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| HBP: by Nick Goetz (Player 5). . . . . WP: Player 2(2), Player 3(2). PB: Andy Cornish(3), Player 7. T: 3:00. A: 67. |