by Duncan Hoyle
Herts Eagles finished their first season back in the BBF after a year’s sabbatical with a heavy defeat at runaway leaders Hove Tuesday.
However that didn’t knock the enthusiasm or the spirit of the Herts development team in any way at all. 15 players made the long trip to the south coast to play on Hove’s superb Pavilion Field ground – which not too long ago hosted the NBC’s.
Starting on the mound for the Eagles was 15 year old Will Zucker and once again he put in a confident and mature display to keep the Hove offense on their toes for the first couple of innings. He was supported on the mound by the ever dependable Theo Scheepers and Simon Roberts who was making his league debut on the mound. Roberts has been working hard to develop his pitching arm and he will take away a lot of confidence in his pitching display which included his first couple of strike outs and he can surely look forward to establishing himself as a main pitching option for the Eagles next season.
Other highights for the Eagles included the debuts of Sony Lama and Tom Kosak who have only been with the club for a fortnight but already look as though they will excellent additions to the club. Lama hit a superb triple which fell just short of a home run and just after got into score and Kosak had a painful introduction to British Baseball as he took a fastball to his chest on his very first pitch. However he had no problems in shaking it off and was stealing 2nd a pitch or two later.
It has been a tough year for the Eagles but they have come out of it with a 5-5 record and some good team and individual performances along the way. Highlights have included the wins versus Richmond and Essex Redbacks which included the Eagles only home run of the season by Adrian Smithers and the performances versus Guildford and London Marauders. The most pleasing thing has been the enthusiasm for playing baseball within the squad. Nearly all the team are rookies or youth teamers and there is massive potential within the squad. Youngsters like Will Zucker, Joseph Osborne-Brade, Adam Landau-Smithers, Senna Ashida, Mike Cresswell, Charlie Mayhew and Callum Vangundy should have many successful years of baseball ahead of them and will be looking to establish themselves at single A and push for places in AA in the seasons ahead.
Eagles players 2012 (league, exhibition and London Tournament)
David Ames, Senna Ashida, Tak Ashida, Ben Ashworth, Will Belbin, Vassil Botev, Jake Caress, Mike Cresswell, Rob Crouch, Glen Downer, Tom Everex-Armstrong, Jon Gamble, Rupert Greyling, Duncan Hoyle, Oz Kemal, Tom Kosak, Sony Lama, Adam Landau-Smithers, Craig Le Roux, Zach Longboy, Kieran Manning, Ben Marques, Charlie Mayhew, Joseph Osborne-Brade, Ken Pike, Simon Roberts, Theo Scheepers, Adrian Smithers, Geoff Thomas, Callum Vangundy, Keanu Wood, Reagan Wood, Will Zucker.