Jake Caress (left) and Arnie Longboy (right) will hope to turn Herts Eagles’ fortunes around in 2015 (photo by Paul Holdrick)
At its Annual General Meeting Herts Baseball Club announced that Carlos Casal will be stepping down as manager of the Herts Eagles. In his place the club has appointed two co-managers – Arnie Longboy and Jake Caress.
Longboy is a long-standing member of the club who has managed the Herts Raptors in the Single-A League, the Herts Hawks in the Double-A League and now he makes the step up to the Triple-A League with the Eagles.
Jake Caress is a product of the Herts youth programme. He has grown through the ranks playing for the club’s Under-14, Under-17, Single-A, Double-A and Triple-A teams. His progress has not gone unnoticed and this summer he was a member of the Great Britain Under-19 National Team which had a successful qualifying campaign in Croatia winning promotion to Pool A for the European Championships next year. In the last two seasons Caress was the manager of the Herts Cardinals in the BBF Under-14 League. He led the Cardinals to a bronze medal finish in this year’s U14 National Baseball Championships.
The Herts Eagles had a difficult 2014 season in the Triple-A League. They finished last in the standings with a record of 2 wins and 14 losses (W-L% .125). Can the new managerial team improve the team’s record in 2015?