A severely under strength Hawks side travelled to Richmond on the 18th of July hoping to extract revenge for the thrashing the Knights handed out to them last time the two met. Unfortunately — despite a much improved performance — it was not to be, with Richmond winding up 19-4 winners. They still sit comfortably at the top of the table.
On the mound, the Hawks welcomed back their manager, Greg Bochan, from injury. He valiantly pitched the full 7 innings. However, nine errors along with eighteen Richmond hits took their toll and allowed the home side to rack up the runs.
Offensively, the Hawks bats were relatively dormant, only managing six hits and four runs in response to Richmond’s effort. The positive for Herts was the contribution made by several Raptor players who, due to missing personnel, got their chance at AA level and did not disappoint. Simon Elkington led the way with three hits and a run, Tak Ashida managed a hit and a run and Jeff Witter got himself an RBI.
The effort of these Raptors, however, would not be enough and the game ended in the seventh inning on the 10 run slaughter rule. It was still a much better outcome than the previous performance against Richmond.