After several months of signing some of the highest profile players in the National Baseball League (NBL), the Herts Falcons met the hopes and expectations of a record Opening Day crowd at Grovehill Ballpark in Hemel Hempstead, with two wins against the Bracknell Blazers.
This year NBL’s Opening Day takes place before Major League Baseball’s equivalent. This adjustment in the calendar has been necessary due to the European Championships and World Baseball Classic qualifiers later in the year for the Great Britain National Team. The large number of fans who came for the game enjoyed a day packed with activities starting with Herts Spring League games at 10am and a 4-team family softball tournament involving youth players and parents from the Herts Little League as well as softball enthusiasts who may turn out to be the building blocks of a project to create the first softball league in Hertfordshire, something which has been discussed at various levels in recent months.
Those at the ballpark were pleasantly surprised to see the recently announced BSUK-funded upgrade of the ballpark appear so quickly with perimeter fencing already installed. After the softball and a few hot dogs, some of the Herts Little League players were on hand to throw out the ceremonial first pitch of the 2012 NBL season. In the usual Herts tradition all balls were thrown at the same time and Falcons catcher, Phil Clark, had the impossible task of catching all the balls heading in his direction.
The National Anthem rang around Grovehill and it was time for the Falcons and Blazers to get down to business. Jordan Farkas started on the mound for the Falcons and although the Blazers scored a run in the first inning, he didn’t seem to be shaken up at all and did not allow any runs in the subsequent 5 innings. Blazers starter, Reiniel Martinez, also had a very effective start allowing only 1 run in the first 3 innings. In the bottom of the fourth Herts put 3 runs on the board. A walk and two errors were followed by a one-run single by Jordan Farkas and another big single by David House to bring two more runs in. Bracknell brought in pitcher Henry Collins who didn’t allow any more Herts runs but the four runs scored already were enough for them to secure a winning start of the season, despite a late rally by Bracknell which put the tying run on second base, Jordan Farkas completed the game by striking out Dexter Stewart and the dangerous Phil Matthews. Farkas had a total of 9 strikeouts and allowed only 3 hits.
Game two turned out to be even more exciting. Jake Michels made his NBL debut on the mound for Herts. Bracknell quickly put the pressure on with a 3-0 lead after a 2-run home run by Phil Matthews over the left-centerfield wall.
Herts responded with two runs in the bottom of that inning but any kind of offensive rally was certainly not due to any pitching weaknesses for Bracknell. Their starter Jordan Edwards proved to be a very awkward customer. He left the game after 4 innings with the score tied at 4-4 but none of the four runs allowed were earned and the Falcons managed to record only 1 hit against him over 4 innings. Herts committed 3 errors in that game and unfortunately for them they all came in the fifth inning. The Blazers took advantage of this and added 3 more runs making the score 7-4. Jake Michels certainly had the velocity and the movement on the day but one or two walks proved to be costly. It seemed like the game was running away from the Falcons but they responded in a big way in the bottom of the fifth. Jake Michels and Dave Trethway worked two walks followed by Mike Osborn’s ground rule double and a single by 15-year-old Herts prospect, Liam Green, which caused an almighty confusion bringing in Kevin Niedringhaus to tie the game at 7-7. Green went 2-for-2 over the two games.
Mike Osborn came in very effectively to pitch a scoreless top of the 7th inning. With the game tied 7-7 it went down to the bottom of the last inning. David House led-off with a single and advanced to third on an error. Up stepped another debutant, Mike Cattermole, playing against his former team mates, to drive the winning run in with a bullet which just stayed fair down the right field foul line.
Herts Falcons Manager, Lee Manning was pleased with the wins. “We wanted to get off to a good start this year and Bracknell made it very difficult for us. These were two very exciting games on Opening Day and it feels good to win, but the season has only just started and we must stay focused with some very important games coming up”- said Manning. He added: “It took the whole team to win these two games with players coming into the game in key situations and making an instant impact.”
The baseball celebration in Herts started at 10am and ended at 7pm sending fans home happy. If this is a sign of what we can expect this year, British baseball is in for a very exciting season.
GAME 1
| Bracknell Blazers at Herts Falcons | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score By Innings | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
| Bracknell Blazers | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| Herts Falcons | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 3 |
| Herts Falcons 4, Bracknell Blazers 2 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Herts Falcons | Bracknell Blazers | ||||||||
| ab | r | h | bi | ab | r | h | bi | ||
| HICHE Cristobal 1b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | TRASK Mike 3b | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| SAIONJI Kimiyoshi 2b | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | EDWARDS Jordan ss | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| MICHELS Jacob 3b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | STEWART Dexter c | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| (b6) CATTERMOLE Mike 3b | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | DUGGAN Fraser lf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| TRETHEWAY David cf | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | MATTHEWS Phil 1b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| OSBORN Michael lf | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | MILNER Clinton 2b | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| CLARK Phil c | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | MARTINEZ Reniel p | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| NIEDRINGHAUS Kevin ss | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | (t5) COLLINS Henry pr-rf-p | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| (b6) HARE Louis ss | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | MARTINSSEN Gustav cf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| FARKAS Jordan p | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | PECKHAM Guy rf | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| GREEN Liam rf | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |||||
| (b4) HOUSE David rf | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |||||
| TEAM TOTALS | 25 | 4 | 6 | 4 | TEAM TOTALS | 27 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| E: MICHELS Jacob , OSBORN Michael, NIEDRINGHAUS Kevin, EDWARDS Jordan(2), MILNER Clinton(2), PECKHAM Guy. LOB: Herts Falcons 5, Bracknell Blazers 9. 2B: FARKAS Jordan. SB: STEWART Dexter, COLLINS Henry. |
| Herts Falcons | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| FARKAS Jordan W | 7.00 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 9 |
| Bracknell Blazers | ||||||
| MARTINEZ Reniel L | 4.00 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| COLLINS Henry | 2.00 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| HBP: by FARKAS Jordan (TRASK Mike). . . . . , by FARKAS Jordan (STEWART Dexter). . WP: FARKAS Jordan(3). T: 1:55. A: 240. |
GAME 2
| Bracknell Blazers at Herts Falcons | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score By Innings | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
| Bracknell Blazers | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 5 | 8 |
| Herts Falcons | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 5 | 3 |
| Herts Falcons 8, Bracknell Blazers 7 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Herts Falcons | Bracknell Blazers | ||||||||
| ab | r | h | bi | ab | r | h | bi | ||
| HICHE Cristobal cf | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | MARTINEZ Reiniel ss | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| SAIONJI Kimiyoshi 2b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | TRASK Mike cf-p | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| MICHELS Jacob p-ss | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | STEWART Dexter c | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| TRETHEWAY David lf | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | DUGGAN Fraser 2b | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| OSBORN Michael rf-1b-p | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | MATTHEWS Phil 3b-1b | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| HOUSE David 3b | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | MARTINSSEN Gustav rf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| NIEDRINGHAUS Kevin c | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | (b6) PECKHAM Gary rf | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| HARE Louis ss-1b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | EDWARDS Jordan p-cf-3b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| (t7) CATTERMOLE Mike 1b | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | MILNER Clinton 1b-3b-p | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| FARKAS Jordan 1b | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | COLLINS Henry lf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| (t5) GREEN Liam rf | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |||||
| TEAM TOTALS | 27 | 8 | 5 | 3 | TEAM TOTALS | 27 | 7 | 5 | 4 |
| E: HARE Louis(2), HICHE Cristobal, MARTINEZ Reiniel(3), DUGGAN Fraser(2), STEWART Dexter, EDWARDS Jordan, MILNER Clinton. DP: Bracknell Blazers 1. LOB: Bracknell Blazers 4, Herts Falcons 9. 2B: MICHELS Jacob , OSBORN Michael, MARTINEZ Reiniel, TRASK Mike. HR: MATTHEWS Phil. SB: NIEDRINGHAUS Kevin, TRASK Mike(2), MARTINEZ Reiniel. SF: FARKAS Jordan. |
| Herts Falcons | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| MICHELS Jacob | 6.00 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 9 |
| OSBORN Michael W | 1.00 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Bracknell Blazers | ||||||
| EDWARDS Jordan | 4.00 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 2 |
| MILNER Clinton | 2.00 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| TRASK Mike L | 0.00 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| WP: MICHELS Jacob (3), OSBORN Michael. T: 2:20. A: 240. |