Herts Baseball Club has received another boost with the news that right-handed pitcher, Pete Kikel, will be making his comeback this season.
Kikel joined the Hemel Hempstead-based club in 2003 when he was just 12 years of age. Together with his father, Jake who now plays in the German Baseball League with the HSV Stealers, he has grown up with the club. He was a member of the Herts Falcons team which won the AAA National Championship in 2008 and in 2010 was one of the starting pitchers for the Herts Falcons in the NBL. His ERA in the NBL stands at 4.83 with a record of 4 wins and 4 losses, which is quite impressive in a season when the Falcons had a win-loss record 9-19, well below .500.
Kikel is a multi-tooled player and he will also bring power to the batting lineup. In 2010 he recorded a batting average of .277 with 2 homeruns from 47 NBL at bats*.
The 21-year-old missed the last two seasons so it is expected that the Herts coaching staff may assess him at the AAA level to ease him back into action.
* – stats courtesy of www.projectcobb.org.uk
photos by Will Baxter