The 2009 Kyle Hunlock Series opener on Sunday was both relaxed and frenzied, as Herts Baseball Club came together for some light-hearted yet ultra-competitive postseason play.
• See the game day photos at: flickr.com/hertsbaseball
• Visit the Hunlock Series homepage: hertsbaseball.com/hunlock
During last week’s live draft, the regular season rosters were divvied up into three, completely new squads. Despite the equalising factor of the pick-by-pick process, there must be winners and losers in baseball, and Sunday’s gameplay was as fiercely contested as the Falcons, Eagles, Hawks and Raptors regular season fixtures.
In games one and two, the Red Roosters – with returning Hunlock champion manager Hunter Devine at the helm – swept aside the competition with a one-run save versus the Black Widows and a walk-off win against the Blue Dogs. The Roosters finished week one with a 2-0 record and are now considered the team to beat in this Series.
Not to be left in the dust, skipper Matt Johnston’s Widows trounced the Blue Dogs in the final game of the day by a score of 16-2. This leaves the Dogs and manager Andy Cornish looking for vindication next week, as they scramble to avoid a basement finish; they’ll need to take both games on Sunday 27th September to assure themselves a smooth path to the title in Week Three.
Standout performances were evident on all three teams. Black Widow pitcher Marty Cullen and Roosters starter Pete Kikel both delivered six innings of identical stats from the mound, each with one earned run on three hits allowed and five strikeouts. Kikel was also 4-6 with 4 RBI, although he was quickly ejected from game two for throwing his helmet in disgust after he was tagged out at home plate during a botched suicide squeeze. Louis Hare hit a triple, Jason Greenberg three doubles, and Carlos Casal was 3-5 with 2 RBI and a pair of stolen bases.
Next week will see a repeat of the round-robin schedule. If the Blue Dogs hope to contend for the Hunlock pennant they’ll need to step it up and win a couple of ballgames. The Roosters are well on their way to a second straight Hunlock championship, and the Widows – last year’s runners-up – are praying for an upset.
However, many question marks remain. What will hard-throwing newcomers Edwin Alcantara and Mike Vasquez bring to the diamond for the Roosters, and will it be enough to shut down the opposition?
Will Marc Martinez and Mark Hoffmann’s veteran experience help the Widows to another winning weekend?
And what effect will returning superstar pitcher Nic Goetz have in just the final week of the Series, and will it even matter if his Blue Dogs continue to lose…?
GAME ONE
| Red Roosters at Black Widows | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score By Innings | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | R | H | E |
| Red Roosters | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 3 |
| Black Widows | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 3 |
| Red Roosters 6, Black Widows 5 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red Roosters | Black Widows | ||||||||
| ab | r | h | bi | ab | r | h | bi | ||
| Aspi Dimitrov 3b-p | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Andrew Slater 1b | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Dave Hamilton cf | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | (t4) Atsuhiko Ariga 2b | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Kimiyoshi Saionji 2b | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Greg Bochan 2b-p | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| (b4) Paul Curtis 2b | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Marty Cullen p-1b | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| John Oliver 1b | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Carlos Casal 3b | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Jason Greenberg c-3b | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | Chris Barnes c | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peter Kikel p-c | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | Luis Goncalves ss | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| David Baird ss | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Steve Nippress lf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Liam Green rf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | (t4) Jose Morillo cf | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Rob Jones lf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Amit Odedra cf-lf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| (b4) Ilya Dimitrov lf | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | (b6) Humberto Goncalves lf | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Arnold Longboy rf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| (t5) Adam Pepin-Hall rf | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| (b6) Matt Johnston rf | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| TEAM TOTALS | 22 | 6 | 6 | 5 | TEAM TOTALS | 26 | 5 | 8 | 3 |
| E: Jason Greenberg, Aspi Dimitrov, Marty Cullen, Carlos Casal. LOB: Red Roosters 2, Black Widows 6. 2B: Jason Greenberg(2), Peter Kikel(2), Marty Cullen, Carlos Casal, Luis Goncalves. SB: David Baird(2), Aspi Dimitrov(2), Jason Greenberg, Dave Hamilton, Peter Kikel, Carlos Casal(3). CS: David Baird, Chris Barnes. |
| Red Roosters | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Peter Kikel W | 3.00 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Aspi Dimitrov | 3.00 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| Black Widows | ||||||
| Marty Cullen L | 3.00 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Greg Bochan | 3.00 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
GAME TWO
| Blue Dogs at Red Roosters | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score By Innings | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | R | H | E |
| Blue Dogs | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 3 |
| Red Roosters | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 10 | 3 |
| Red Roosters 8, Blue Dogs 7 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red Roosters | Blue Dogs | ||||||||
| ab | r | h | bi | ab | r | h | bi | ||
| Aspi Dimitrov 3b-p | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | Nick Read rf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Dave Hamilton cf | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | (t4) Perrie Sherman rf | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| (t5) Rob Jones cf | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Paul Auchterlounie cf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kimiyoshi Saionji 2b | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | Jonathon Lewys 3b-p | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| (t5) Paul Curtis 2b | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Riley Fisher p-3b | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Jason Greenberg c-p-3b | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | Iwan Evans lf | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Peter Kikel p-c | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | Tim Elkins 2b | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| (t5) David Baird 3b | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | (t4) Andy Cornish 2b | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| John Oliver 1b | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Kal Dimitrov c | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Ilya Dimitrov ss | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Jeff Witter 1b | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| (t5) Hunter Devine ss | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Ken Pike ss | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ben Alway lf-rf | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | (t4) Louis Hare ss | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Robert Crouch rf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| (t5) Liam Green lf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| TEAM TOTALS | 22 | 8 | 10 | 7 | TEAM TOTALS | 17 | 7 | 5 | 4 |
| E: Jason Greenberg, Aspi Dimitrov, Riley Fisher, Ken Pike. LOB: Red Roosters 7, Blue Dogs 7. 2B: Jason Greenberg, Kimiyoshi Saionji, Peter Kikel. 3B: Louis Hare. SB: Kimiyoshi Saionji, Perrie Sherman(2), Jonathon Lewys, Kal Dimitrov, Iwan Evans, Riley Fisher. |
| Red Roosters | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Peter Kikel | 3.00 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 3 |
| Aspi Dimitrov W | 1.33 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Jason Greenberg | 0.67 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| Blue Dogs | ||||||
| Riley Fisher L | 2.33 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 4 |
| Jonathon Lewys | 2.00 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
GAME THREE
| Black Widows at Blue Dogs | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score By Innings | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | R | H | E |
| Black Widows | 2 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 16 | 9 | 2 |
| Blue Dogs | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 11 |
| Black Widows 16, Blue Dogs 2 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black Widows | Blue Dogs | ||||||||
| ab | r | h | bi | ab | r | h | bi | ||
| Atsuhiko Ariga lf | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Riley Fisher 3b | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| (t5) Steve Nippress lf | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | (t4) Jonathon Lewys 3b | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Marty Cullen p-c | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | Phil Crooks lf-cf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Greg Bochan 1b-2b | 3 | 4 | 1 | 1 | (t4) Iwan Evans cf | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Chris Barnes c-1b | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Louis Hare p-ss | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Carlos Casal 3b | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | (t5) Nick Read ss | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Amit Odedra cf | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Perrie Sherman 1b-lf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| (b3) Andrew Slater cf | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | Paul Auchterlounie cf | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Luis Goncalves ss-p | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | (b2) Andy Cornish 1b-c | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Arnold Longboy 2b | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Nick Russell ss-p | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| (b3) Humberto Goncalves ss | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | Ken Pike 2b | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Adam Pepin-Hall rf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | (t4) Tim Elkins 1b | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| (t3) Jose Morillo rf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Jake Aman Shah rf | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| (b5) John Doe rf | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Kal Dimitrov c | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| (t4) Jeff Witter 1b-2b | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| TEAM TOTALS | 33 | 16 | 9 | 7 | TEAM TOTALS | 15 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| E: Carlos Casal, Arnold Longboy, Riley Fisher, Jonathon Lewys, Nick Russell, Paul Auchterlounie, Jake Aman Shah, Ken Pike, Phil Crooks. DP: Black Widows 1. LOB: Blue Dogs 4, Black Widows 5. 2B: Marty Cullen. SB: Greg Bochan, Luis Goncalves, Iwan Evans(2), Louis Hare, Andy Cornish, Perrie Sherman. CS: Iwan Evans. SF: Carlos Casal. |
| Black Widows | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Marty Cullen W | 3.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Luis Goncalves | 2.00 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 1 |
| Blue Dogs | ||||||
| Louis Hare L | 3.00 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Nick Russell | 2.00 | 6 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 2 |