Author: Herts Baseball News Editor

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Hawks win Herts Derby. Eagles still have playoff hopes after win over Brighton.

With the Herts Falcons resting at the weekend attention turned to the other three Hertfordshire teams. Two of them, the Herts Hawks and the Herts Raptors, clashed together in an eagerly anticipated derby game. The Hawks were top of the Single-A League table after winning all eight of their league games, while the Raptors were bottom of the table, still looking for their first win. There was no upset as the league-leaders secured a comfortable 16-6 win. Raptors batters found it difficult to deal with the repertoire of pitcher Nic Goetz.  Andrew Slater and Ken Pike came in relief to shut down the underdogs despite a mini rally in the late innings which brought the Raptors to within 6 runs. Ilya Dimitrov hit his second home run of the season. This time an inside-the-parker down the left field foul line.

While the Hawks are on course to reach the playoffs, the Raptors urgently need to start winning games if they are to stay in the race. Their next game is away at the Essex Archers this Sunday, 5 July.

In the Triple-A League the Herts Eagles were looking to bring their playoff hopes back to life in their home doubleheader with third-placed Brighton Bulldogs. These series saw Grovehill Ballpark’s biggest crowd of the season as the fans from the Herts Derby made the short walk to the main diamond to join other Herts and Brighton watching this game and enjoying the barbequed food which was on offer. The aroma of barbequed meat in the air seemed to spur the Herts Eagles on as they won the first game of the series by a quite unbelievable score line of 34-10. Brodie Caress (pictured above) pitched a complete game for the win and he had fantastic run support from his team which included a home run by Will Zucker. In the second game Brighton responded winning 14-3. There was a brief glimmer of hope for the Eagles in that game after Jon Lewys hit a towering home run over the left centerfield wall. That was only one of four hits for the Eagles as Brighton pitcher Angus Cowell shut down Herts’ bats. One of the runs scored by the Bulldogs was a solo home run by Sebastian Molina who plays for Brighton in the Triple-A League and for Herts in the under-19 League which prompted a round of applause from the home fans as Molina is very much a part of the Herts baseball family.

Next Sunday, 5 July, is going to be decisive for the Herts Falcons as they travel to the surging Southampton Mustangs. The Falcons have lost their last six league games while the Mustangs have won their last two. The Falcons will need to win at least one of the two games in the series to keep their playoff hopes in their own hands.

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Round-up of the under-12 UK Little League Championships

photo by Vicky Sinclair

The Herts under-12 team came up against the best teams in the country this weekend as part of the UK Little League Championship. They were drawn in the “group of death” where they to the eventual winners LYBL and to Horsham. That meant that they were playing in the consolation games on Sunday, but that didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the youngsters from Hertfordshire. Their second encounter with Horsham was a classic which went into extra innings. The game ended in a 15-15 tie with a heart-breaking out at home which stopped Nicolas Durer from scoring the winning run. In their final game of the tournament they lost 7-3 to the Mets.

Play of the day went to Josh Jones who made four spectacular catches in left field one of which was an extravagant diving play.

UK LITTLE LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIPS – U12 FINAL SCORES
Herts 0 LYBL 12
Horsham 4 Herts 0
Horsham 15 Herts 15 (tie declared in extra innings)
Herts 3 London Mets 7

The youth league season continues as the Herts youth teams build-up to the biggest prize of the baseball season, the National Baseball Championships which will be played in September. There is still plenty of time for any new players to join the teams and be eligible for that eagerly anticipated event.

 

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Falcons are in the BBF Cup Semi-Final after eliminating Oxford

Good day on the mound for Robbie Almanzar (photo by Paul Holdrick)

The Herts Falcons ended a run of six consecutive league defeats with a win in the BBF Cup quarter-final tie away at the Oxford Kings. Robbie Almanzar was the winning pitcher. Manager Lee Manning was also able to give some of the club’s younger players their Falcons debut and they performed well. Both Takaya Miki and Warwick Byrne did well defensively and offensively.

Young prospects Takaya Miki (pictured above) and Warwick Byrne made their Falcons debuts

This win comes as a relief but psychologically the pressure of the lengthy losing streak in the league will still be on the back of the players’ minds until they can return to winning ways in the NBL. They will aim to do this on 5 July when they travel to the surging Southampton Mustangs who recorded a third consecutive win at the weekend and can leap over the Falcons in the NBL standings if they win both games of that doubleheader next month.

It is now eight wins out of eight games for the Herts Hawks this season. They beat the Old Timers 14-7 away from home and are sitting comfortably on top of their Single-A League Division. On paper this Sunday, 28 June, they should be able to pick up their ninth win of the season easily as they face the Herts Raptors which is one of only two teams in the league yet to record a win this season. However, this is “the Herts Derby” and local rivalries often bring out the best in the underdogs.

The Herts Eagles also have a home game this Sunday against third-placed Brighton Bulldogs. Both games start at 12pm at Grovehill Ballpark in Hemel Hempstead.

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Round-up of UK Little League U19 and U15 Qualifiers. Next weekend it’s the U12s turn.

Herts Cardinals in the U15 Little League Qualifiers (photo by Vicky Sinclair)

In the Little League under-19 qualifiers, the Herts Harriers lost their games against LYBL and London Mets, while in the under-15 division the Herts Cardinals finished fourth behind London Sports, LYBL and the winners, London Mets, who overcame LYBL in the final to progress through to the European qualifiers with a place in the Little League World Series to play for.

Herts entered a team in the under-15 age group of the UK Little League Qualifiers for the first time in its history. The Herts Cardinals came up against teams with more experience so it was always going to be an uphill challenge. In the semi-final they were beaten convincingly 16-0 by LYBL. This meant that they had to compete for the bronze medal in a best-of-3 series against LondonSports. In game one of the series they took a 13-3 lead after an impressive pitching outing by starting pitcher, 12-year-old, Aaron Witter. With two innings left to play he reached his pitch count limit and had to step down from the mound. That gave LondonSports the belief that they can come back into the game and they did, clinching a dramatic 14-13 walk-off win. LondonSports had greater pitching depth and that proved decisive as they went on to win the series with a 19-7 victory in the second game.

Most of the Herts players are two or even three years younger than their opponents so they can take comfort from the fact that they can work hard and come back bigger and stronger over the next few years while their opponents will move up to the older age groups.

The youth league season continues as the teams build-up to the biggest prize of the baseball season, the National Baseball Championships which will be played in September. There is still plenty of time for any new players to join the teams and be eligible for that eagerly anticipated event.

Next weekend, 20-21 June, it is the turn of the Herts under-12 team to play in the Little League qualifiers. They have been placed in Pool B with the Essex Redbacks, London Sports and Horsham.  Here is the games schedule:
Saturday, 20 June
Pool A
10:30 am LYBL vs London Mets (Round Robin Game 1 of 3)
01:30 pm LYBL vs Brentwood (Round Robin Game 2 of 3)
04:30 pm London Mets vs Brentwood (Round Robin Game 3 of 3)

Teams with the best two records will advance to the semi finals on Sunday. If teams have the same record then the tie breaker rule will be followed (see below).

Pool B
Saturday (Youth Baseball 1 & 3)
09:30 am Herts vs Essex Redbacks (Youth Baseball 1) PBGM1
10:00 am London Sports vs Horsham (Youth Baseball 3) PBGM2
01:00 pm Loser PBGM1 vs Loser PBGM2
04:00 pm Winner PBGM1 vs PBGM2

The team who finishes 2-0 will advance to the semi finals on Sunday. The team who finishes 0-2 will advance to the consolation series on the Sunday. For the teams who finish 1-1 the tiebreaker rule shall determine which team advances to the semi final and which team will play in the consolation series

Sunday
Semi – finals and final
10:00 am Top seed from Pool A vs 2nd seed from Pool B (Youth Baseball 1) SF1
10:00 am Top seed from Pool B vs 2nd seed from Pool A (Youth baseball 2) SF2
12:30 pm Loser SF1 vs Loser SF2 U12 / Minors 3rd Place Game
03:00 pm Winner SF1 vs Winner SF2 (Youth Baseball 2) U12 / Minors Championship Game

Consolations Series
10:30 am 3rd Place Pool A vs 3rd Place Pool B
01:00 pm 3rd Place Pool A vs 4th Place Pool B
03:30 pm 4th Place Pool B vs 3rd Place Pool B

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Herts Falcons losing streak continues. Hawks walk-off win.

 

Falcons are still in the NBL playoff zone, but can they stay there? (photo by Paul Holdrick)

National Baseball League, Herts Falcons 10 South London Pirates 11 (box scores)

The Herts Falcons lost two more games at on Sunday extending their losing streak to six. In the first game they battled back from being 9-6 down against the South London Pirates to take a 10-9 lead in the top of the final inning. The Pirates responded with two runs in the bottom of that inning to secure a walk-off win in dramatic fashion. New signing Ian Sales made his debut in this game. He struck out 5 batters in his 4 innings of work allowing 8 earned runs. Undoubtedly he would have liked to have been on the winning side on his debut, but he will not have to wait long to have another go as there are some big games coming up.

National Baseball League, Southampton Mustangs 6 Herts Falcons 2 (box scores)

In the second game of the day the Falcons came up against the Southampton Mustangs who, to the surprise of everyone in British baseball, had only 2 wins in 10 games before the start of the day. Those who were beginning to write them off may have to reassess their predictions. Pitcher Francisco Gonzalez was very effective pitching a complete game in which he allowed only 2 runs and 4 hits against an unusually quite Herts batting line-up. Jose Sosa was the starting pitcher for the Falcons and he once again performed well. The 6 runs conceded by the Falcons all came in the first inning but for the rest of the day Sosa completely shut down the Mustangs putting up zeros in the remaining six innings of the game.

This is the team’s longest losing streak since they lost eight consecutive games in 2011. No one could have predicted this after the team’s impressive start of the season winning 5 of their opening 6 games. “We find ourselves in a difficult period and we have to battle our way out of it. We have a tough BBF Cup quarter-final away game against the Oxford Kings coming up on Sunday and that’s the only thing that we are thinking about at the moment” said Herts Falcons manager, Lee Manning.

Single-A League, Guildford Mavericks 17 Herts Hawks 18 (box scores)

There was some good news for Herts baseball fans as the Herts Hawks scored 5 runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to win 18-17 against the Guildford Mavericks. This means that they are still unbeaten with a record of 7 wins and 0 losses. They are top of their division and in a very strong position to qualify for the Single-A League playoffs.

Single-A League, Bracknell Inferno 31 Herts Raptors 12

Herts Raptors are still searching for their first win of the season after a 32-11 defeat against the Bracknell Inferno.

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Ian Sales joins Herts Falcons in a big push for the NBL title

The Herts Falcons have announced the arrival of American pitcher Ian Sales. He is expected to make his debut for the Falcons this Sunday, 14 June, in the three-team series against the South London Pirates and the Southampton Mustangs.

The right-handed starting pitcher has just moved to London after graduating from Grinnell College this year. Herts fans will remember that one of its star players, Robbie Unsell, is a Grinnell alumni. Despite being in America, Unsell continues to support Herts and we understand that it was Robbie Unsell who recommended the Falcons to Ian Sales.

Sales just completed his season with the Grinnell Pioneers and was awarded pitcher of the year in his conference. During the season his record was 5-1 with a 2.89 ERA overall and a .238 opponents batting average. His ERA in conference was even better at 1.52 and opponents batting average of .217. He struck out 26 batters and allowed only 1 home run in his 46.2 innings of work over the course of the season. From his 5 wins, two were complete game shutouts.

Prior to Grinnell he played two years for Calabasas High School until 2011. His career also includes a spell with the Columbus Bruins under coach Douglas Myers.

This is a very timely boost for a team which has just lost four games in a row. Despite this the Falcons are in a strong position in the playoff race currently in third place, but they have a major fight on their hands with three teams chasing right behind them. The Falcons have had one of the best batting line-ups in the NBL so far this season , but they have also had the worst defence leading the league in runs allowed, so the addition of a high class pitcher like Ian Sales is exactly what they needed as the team enters the second half of the regular season.

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Falcons unable to stop unbeaten Mets despite Azcuy record-breaking home run

(photo by Paul Holdrick)

The Herts Falcons were unable to end the unbeaten run of the London Mets on Sunday, losing both games of the doubleheader. There was a consolation for them as Maikel Azcuy hit career home run number 36 to become the all-time home run leader in the history of the National Baseball League (NBL).

 

In game one the Mets took a 4-run lead in the first inning, but the visitors from Hertfordshire showed determination to stay in the game and fight back. A towering 2-run home run to dead centerfield by Maikel Azcuy brought the Falcons back in the game in the sixth inning. The historic significance of that home run may not have been fully appreciated by Azcuy at that moment as he must have been more excited about the fact that he gave his team a lifeline to come back in this massive game in the NBL title race. However, in the coming days and weeks he will realize that he has set a major milestone in British baseball. He has overtaken the legendary Simon Pole (35 home runs) as well as other big names like Alan Bloomfield (31), Roddi Liebenberg (31), among others. Furthermore, he has many more years to add to his home run tally. Youngsters coming through the youth leagues will face an uphill task if they are to equal or better his achievement.

 

With the game finely poised at 4-2 ,the Falcons had one final inning to stay in the game, but it wasn’t to be. Their starting pitcher Jose Sosa did extremely well to shut down the Mets completely from the second inning onwards, but the best batting lineup in the league could not bring in the runs it needed to bring down the NBL’s best defence.

The second game seemed like a repeat of game one. The Mets took an early 4-0 lead. This included a home run by Grant Delzoppo – 26th of his career, which puts him in fifth place in the all-time NBL home run list. The Falcons fought back temporarily after a solo home run by Edwin Alcantara who has been outstanding this season. This was his third home run of the season which makes him this season’s home run joint-leader in the NBL alongside Maikel Azcuy. Unlike the first game, the Mets didn’t allow any late inning drama and moved up a gear to score seven runs and seal an emphatic 11-1 victory.

After a promising start of the season winning five of their first six games, the Herts Falcons have now suffered four defeats in a row, but manager, Lee Manning, remains positive about his team’s chances. “The four defeats have been difficult for our team to take, but there is a lot of baseball still to be played and we are in a strong position. We have a team of experienced players who have been through tougher situations in their careers and they enjoy playing when the pressure is on” said Manning.

In the Triple-A League, the Herts Eagles missed an opportunity to get back in the playoff chase after they suffered two defeats against bottom team Essex Redbacks who have now leapfrogged the Eagles. The only team from Hertfordshire to win this weekend were the Herts Hawks in the Single-A League. Their win against the Essex Archers extends their unbeaten run to six. The game included a home run by Bobby Graham on his home debut. The fact that this was only the second game of his life brought back memories of Dan Kerry who in 2007, in his very first at bat of his life hit a home run in the same location over the left-centerfield wall at the Old Diamond of Grovehill Ballpark against pitcher Darrin Ward who was playing for the Milton Keynes Hurricanes at the time.

Next weekend the Falcons travel to Croydon for games against the South London Pirates and the Southampton Mustangs.  Both of their opponents are currently below them in the standings and they cannot afford another slip up if they are to stay in the playoff places. Herts Hawks have a home game against the high-flying Guildford Mavericks (10:30am start). This game is followed by the Herts Raptors clash with the Bracknell Inferno at around 2:30pm.

Also this weekend, in the youth leagues the Herts Harriers and Herts Cardinals will play in the Under-19 and Under-15 UK qualifiers with winners progressing through to the European qualifying stage of the Little League World Series.

by Herts Baseball News Editor

BREAKING NEWS: Maikel Azcuy is now the NBL all-time home run leader

BREAKING NEWS: Herts Falcons and Great Britain National Team player, Maikel Azcuy, just hit home run number 36 of his career. He is now the NBL all-time home run leader overtaking previous leader Simon Pole. That was a 2-run home run after Cris Hiche got on base before him with a line drive to centerfield. Azcuy’s home run was hit to dead centerfield.

It comes in the biggest game of the season so far between NBL leaders London Mets and second-placed, Herts Falcons. London Mets had taken an early 4-0 lead in the 1st inning. Azcuy’s home run brought Falcons right back in the game making the score 4-2 to the Mets in the 6th inning.

If you are not at Finsbury Park to watch the game, follow Herts Baseball Club on twitter for game updates.

 

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Falcons vs Mets Build-up: Osborn and Azcuy chasing records ahead of Sunday’s clash

As we build-up for Herts Falcons’ biggest game of the season so far on Sunday at the London Mets it is time to bring you up to date with the record-chasers. On opening day pitcher Matt Gilbert overtook Cody Cain to become the National Baseball League’s (NBL) career strikeouts leader. He has been continuing to add to that total over the last few weeks of the NBL season and is now on 414, but suddenly we have a race. Gilbert is being chased by another Falcons pitcher.

Mike Osborn started the season with 384 career strikeouts accumulated over 17 years playing in the NBL. He started his NBL career with the London Warriors (1998-2004) moving on to the Richmond Flames (2006-2011) and then with the Herts Falcons which he joined in 2012. He struck out 9 batters in a strong outing against the South London Pirates on 17 May and added 5 more against the Essex Arrows and the Bracknell Blazers. He is currently on 398, 16 strikeouts behind Matt Gilbert so it will be interesting to see how this race will develop over the next few weeks.

Michael Osborn is very close to another major milestone. He ended the 2014 season within 35 regular-season plate appearances of the 1000 mark. Only Alan Bloomfield has more than 1000 recorded plate appearances in modern British baseball history. He has had 4 plate appearances so far this season.

Maikel Azcuy hit his 34th and 35th career home runs against the Pirates and the Southampton Mustangs on Opening Day which put him level with the NBL career home run leader, Simon Pole. He followed this up with a home run at Finsbury Park against the London Metros, however this was a BBF Cup game so would not count towards his NBL career total. He has been hitting the ball hard with 10 more hits since then, 5 of which were doubles. Azcuy will be back at Finsbury Park this Sunday as the Falcons look to end the unbeaten run of the London Mets. A home run in this doubleheader would be special on many levels.

The game starts at 12pm at Finsbury Park. Herts fans travelling by car are advised that there will be a marathon at Finsbury Park and they should contact us to receive a copy of a letter from Haringey Council which permits them to enter the area and park their car.

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Falcons vs Mets Build-up: Rivalry resumes this Sunday

The Herts Falcons travel to the London Mets this Sunday. It’s the game we have been waiting for since the start of the season. It’s first versus second in British baseball’s top league.

The Falcons suffered heavy defeats last Sunday against Bracknell. They have a chance to redeem themselves this Sunday at Finsbury Park. The London Mets are sitting comfortably in first place, with eight wins and no losses. Bracknell and Southampton came close to ending their unbeaten run but the Mets seem to have the ability to come back regardless of how many runs they trail by and how late in the game it is.

So far this season the Mets have had the best defence while the Falcons have had the best offence.  Who will end up on top on Sunday, defence or offence?

The Mets-Falcons rivalry has been building up over the last few years on and off the field. Many would argue that the competition between the two teams has been one of the main reasons for the incredible growth and development of facilities which the two clubs have achieved in a short period of time. Long may this rivalry continue.

The game starts at 12pm at Finsbury Park. Herts fans travelling by car are advised that there will be a marathon at Finsbury Park and they should contact us to receive a copy of a letter from Haringey Council which permits them to enter the area and park their car.