The Herts teams couldn’t have imagined a worse start of the 2011 baseball season. All four games involving Herts teams ended in defeat.
The Herts Falcons faced the Southampton Mustangs in their home opener and they came into the game with a lot of confidence after a good run of results in Spring Training which included a convincing victory against the Mustangs. Despite taking the lead in the first inning, the Falcons gradually lost grip of the game. In the fifth inning the visitors delivered the knockout punch scoring 9 runs. Southampton’s starting pitcher, Gary Davison, pitched a complete game allowing only 4 hits. He was shaken up only once when the Falcons’ 2009 MVP, Darrin Ward, launched a towering 2-run home run over the left-field wall, but it came too late for Herts.
The second game of the doubleheader was a much closer contest. Chuck Truelson picked up the win for Southampton after Rodriguez came in very effectively to relieve him in the fourth inning. Herts Falcons Manager, Lee Manning, was gracious in defeat: “Southampton outplayed us and they deserved to win today. We need to bounce back now.”
The one positive for the Falcons is that they now have a two-week break which should be enough for their freakishly long list of injured players to recover including Jamie Munn (arm), Jon Lewys (ankle), Troy Linton (elbow), Nic Goetz (arm), Mahendra Prasad (hamstring), Aspi Dimitrov (shoulder). They will face the Croydon Pirates in their next game on May 1, once again at Grovehill Ballpark.
The Herts Hawks were brought down to earth by a much improved Thames Valley team who, on today’s performance, should be able to challenge in the race for the postseason. They have acquired the temperamental lefty starting pitcher, Matteo, from the Oxford Kings. Despite pitching a blinder, he managed to get himself ejected from the game in the final inning with his team winning 16-5.
The Herts Raptors opened their campaign against the newly formed Cambridge Royals, who already look like the team to beat in the Single-A League. With experienced players like Gary Liston, Adam Brown and Sri Lankan pitcher Raj, who fans of Herts know well, they have the tools to get to the postseason. They won with a convincing 33-5 score against a Herts Raptors team that will be in much better shape in their next game with the return of some of the team’s big guns Arnie Longboy, Bryan Drummond, Chris Deacon, Phil Crooks, Rob Jones, Stephen Patmore and Tom Green.
A disappointing start of the season for the Herts teams, but those who dismiss their chances do so at their own peril.
BOX SCORES – GAME 1
| Southampton Mustangs at Herts Falcons | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score By Innings | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | R | H | E |
| Southampton Mustangs | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 18 | 3 |
| Herts Falcons | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 7 |
| Southampton Mustangs 15, Herts Falcons 5 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southampton Mustangs | Herts Falcons | ||||||||
| ab | r | h | bi | ab | r | h | bi | ||
| AIZPURUA V. ss | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | PRASAD Mahendra cf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| (b5) BIBBY R. rf-ss | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | SAIONJI Kimiyoshi 2b | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| DAVIS Ben 1b | 5 | 1 | 4 | 3 | WARD Darrin p | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| RODRIGUEZ A. cf | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | LINTON Troy 1b | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| SIERRA Oscar c | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | HARE Louis ss | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| DAVISON Gary p | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | LEWYS Jonathon rf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| TRUELSON Chuck 3b | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | GOETZ Nic 3b | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| ARIETA Ross rf | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | DIMITROV Aspi lf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| JOHNSON P. 2b | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | MANNING Lee c | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| COOPER A. lf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | (t6) SHERMAN Perrie c | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| TEAM TOTALS | 44 | 15 | 18 | 11 | TEAM TOTALS | 26 | 5 | 4 | 3 |
| E: RODRIGUEZ A., DAVISON Gary, TRUELSON Chuck, HARE Louis(3), GOETZ Nic(2), LINTON Troy, LEWYS Jonathon. LOB: Herts Falcons 5, Southampton Mustangs 10. 2B: DAVIS Ben(3), DAVISON Gary, SIERRA Oscar, JOHNSON P., MANNING Lee. HR: RODRIGUEZ A., TRUELSON Chuck, WARD Darrin. SB: DAVIS Ben(2), TRUELSON Chuck, JOHNSON P., AIZPURUA V., SAIONJI Kimiyoshi. CS: HARE Louis. SF: COOPER A.. |
| Southampton Mustangs | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| DAVISON Gary W | 7.00 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 6 |
| Herts Falcons | ||||||
| WARD Darrin L | 7.00 | 18 | 15 | 8 | 1 | 2 |
BOX SCORES – GAME 2
| Southampton Mustangs at Herts Falcons | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score By Innings | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
| Southampton Mustangs | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 12 | 5 |
| Herts Falcons | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 6 | 5 |
| Southampton Mustangs 11, Herts Falcons 8 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southampton Mustangs | Herts Falcons | ||||||||
| ab | r | h | bi | ab | r | h | bi | ||
| AIZPURUA Victor 2b-ss | 5 | 3 | 3 | 0 | PRASAD Mahendra cf | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| DAVIS Ben cf | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | SAIONJI Kimiyoshi 2b | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| RODRIGUEZ A. 3b-p | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | WARD Darrin 1b | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| SIERRA O. c | 4 | 3 | 2 | 6 | LINTON Troy 3b-ss | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| DAVISON G. 1b | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | HARE Louis ss-p | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| TRUELSON Chuck p | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | LEWYS Jonathon lf | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| (b4) JOHNSON P. 2b | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | (t6) ARNOTT Jim rf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ARIETA Ross rf | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | GOETZ Nic p-3b | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| BIBBY R. ss-3b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | (b3) DIMITROV Aspi 3b | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| COOPER A. lf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NAGHAR Rodney rf-lf | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| MANNING Lee c | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| (b6) SHERMAN Perrie pr-c | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| TEAM TOTALS | 37 | 11 | 12 | 10 | TEAM TOTALS | 29 | 8 | 6 | 8 |
| E: BIBBY R.(2), DAVIS Ben, RODRIGUEZ A., AIZPURUA Victor, LINTON Troy(2), HARE Louis, MANNING Lee, NAGHAR Rodney. LOB: Herts Falcons 5, Southampton Mustangs 7. 2B: HARE Louis, PRASAD Mahendra, DIMITROV Aspi. 3B: PRASAD Mahendra. HR: SIERRA O.(2), DAVISON G.. SB: AIZPURUA Victor(2), DAVIS Ben, JOHNSON P.. SF: SAIONJI Kimiyoshi. |
| Southampton Mustangs | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| RODRIGUEZ A. | 4.00 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| TRUELSON Chuck W | 3.00 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| Herts Falcons | ||||||
| HARE Louis | 4.67 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| GOETZ Nic L | 2.33 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| HBP: by GOETZ Nic (DAVISON G.). . . . . . . Balk: RODRIGUEZ A.. T: 2:30. A: 89. |