Author: Herts Baseball News Editor

by Herts Baseball News Editor

2014 Herts Futures Tournament details announced

Herts Baseball Club has announced that the 2014 Herts Futures Tournament will take place on Saturday, 20 September 2014.

The Herts Futures Tournament (HFT) has been held every year since 2008 and is now a permanent fixture in the British baseball calendar. Last year was a record year for the HFT with 15 teams entering the competition, which makes it the largest youth baseball event in the United Kingdom. Herts Baseball Club Board Member, Aspi Dimitrov, said: “It will be interesting to see how many teams will enter this year. If the number continues to increase we will have to consider ways of expanding the venue as last year we were close to reaching the venue’s capacity.”

The event brings together youth teams of all age groups from across the country for a day of baseball at one of the best baseball venues in the UK. Grovehill Ballpark is the home of Herts Baseball Club. Over the last few years the venue has been selected to host some of the biggest events in the British baseball calendar including the National Baseball Championships. During the Herts Futures Tournament additional diamonds are added to cater for all the age groups.

In addition to inviting Under-17, Under-14 and Under-12 teams, this year the organisers are exploring the option to add an Under-10 division.

For more information about the event or if you require details about how teams can enter the Tournament or how players can join the Herts teams in time for the HFT, visit the Herts Futures Tournament homepage or contact Herts Baseball Club.

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Falcons out of NBL playoff race

With the Falcons eliminated, Herts hopes rest on the club’s 3 youth teams. The Herts Harriers (pictured) were national runners-up last year. Can they go one better this time. (photo by Chip Andersen)

Hurricane Bertha wiped out all of the baseball league games involving teams from Hertfordshire, but the biggest damage was caused by the result in South London where the Southern Nationals won both games of their doubleheader against the South London Pirates. This implies that the playoffs are now out of the reach of the Herts Falcons regardless of what happens on the final weekend of the season.

This was always going to be a transitional year for the team after losing six of its nine starting players from the team which finished top of the NBL regular season last year with a record of 24 wins and 4 losses. In addition, the team suffered a series of injuries. More players were sidelined over the first four weeks of the season than in the previous three years.

Despite this the Falcons managed to regroup acquiring some outstanding players including Abel Salas, Jose Sosa, Ryan Hackel and Zac Malone and mounted a major playoff push in the last two and a half months. Players who had come through the club’s youth programme were asked to perform on the big stage and they came through with flying colours.

“The players gave everything this season. We just ran out of games at the end” said manager Lee Manning. “Everyone will feel some disappointment as we had a team capable of competing and we recorded a win against every team in the league including the league leaders”.

The Herts baseball teams are out of the playoff races in the respective leagues, but on the final weekend of the season they will have a say in who will occupy those playoff places after the final out of the regular season.

This is the first time since 2011 that Hertfordshire will not be represented in the postseason playoffs of the four tiers of the adult leagues of British Baseball. The hopes of Herts baseball fans now rest on the shoulders of the club’s three youth teams which are preparing for the playoffs in the under-17, under-14 and under-12 leagues. Boys and girls from around the region are still contacting the club and signing up to play in these exciting games to determine the national baseball champions, so it is not too late to get involved (click here to contact the club).

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Hurricane Bertha wipes out Falcons, Hawks and Raptors games

The remnants of hurricane Bertha hit the South of England this morning causing a major disruption to the British baseball league schedule. All games involving Herts teams today have been affected.

The much anticipated NBL clash between the Herts Falcons and the Essex Arrows has just been postponed.

Earlier this morning the Double-A League game between Herts Hawks and Guildford Mavericks was also cancelled.

Herts Raptors’ Single-A League game at the Essex Redbacks was called off yesterday in anticipation of the incoming weather sysem.

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Next two Herts Eagles series postponed due to GB team tour of USA

The Triple-A League games MK Bucks at Herts Eagles on 3 Aug and Herts Eagles at Richmond Knights on 10 Aug have been postponed due to the Great Britain U17 National Team tour of the USA on the basis of the BBF League rule protecting teams when 3 or more of their players receive international call-up.

With ten Herts players and coaches currently in Florida with the GB team the Herts Eagles appear to be affected the most out of the four Herts teams.  With the Triple-A playoffs commencing on 24 August these games would need to be rescheduled before then, however it is uncertain whether this would be possible as the Eagles are scheduled to play Hove Tuesday on the last remaining Sunday, August 17. If the games cannot be rescheduled, it is expected that they would be left unplayed and the “games behind” column will determine the standings.

by Herts Baseball News Editor

2013 Herts Falcons MVP prepares for semi-final. Series will be shown on TV. Game One on Friday

While the Herts Falcons are preparing for a monumental clash with the Southern Nationals this Sunday, we want to bring Herts fans up to date with developments in Germany as 2013 Herts Falcons MVP, Xavi Gonzalez, prepares for the postseason playoffs in his first season with the Stuttgart Reds in the German Bundesliga.

Xavi made the move to Stuttgart for the start of the 2014 season and he has been the team’s first-choice shortstop. It has proven to be Stuttgart’s best season in their history as they finished the regular season in third place with a record of 18 wins 10 losses (win/loss ratio of .643) and have qualified for the postseason playoffs which commence this weekend.

In the Playoff Semi-Final they will face this year’s favourites, Heidenheim Heideköpfe, who have the best regular season record of 25 wins and only 3 losses.

The Semi-Final will be a best-of-5 series. Around 1,500 fans are expected to be on hand for these series. Game One is this Friday, 1 August, starting at 6pm UK time. Game two will be played on the following day (Sat, 2 August) at 1pm UK time. These first two games will be played in Stuttgart and will be shown live on Splink.TV. Games three, four and five will be played at Heidenheim on 8, 9 and 10 August.

Xavi Gonzalez has put up some outstanding numbers so far in his first season in Germany batting .311 with an on-base percentage of .420. Defensively he has a fielding percentage of .954 committing only 5 errors and turning 13 double plays.

Xavi obviously has to focus on this weekend’s Semi-Final, but he has been following the Herts Falcons season closely and he took time to send his best wishes to the team. “Please let the guys know that I am right behind them and please give a big hug from me to everyone” said Gonzalez.

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Herts Falcons fans prepare for another rollercoaster Sunday

photo by Richard Lee

For fans of the Herts Falcons baseball team the remaining 8 games of the National Baseball League season will be spent biting nails, sitting on edge of seats and carrying smartphones to keep track of scores coming in from other ballparks around the country.

The Falcons (5-11) are currently in sixth place and on Sunday they have the opportunity to make up ground on their playoff rivals as they face fifth-placed Bracknell Blazers (6-8). If they win both games of this doubleheader they could move into fifth place and close the gap on the Southern Nationals who occupy fourth place which represents the last available ticket to the NBL playoffs. This would set up a titanic clash seven days later as the team from Hertfordshire travels to Farnham Park to face the Nationals, where two wins could move them into fourth place.

But before even thinking about the game on 3 August, all the focus is on their immediate opponents, the Blazers. When the two teams met earlier in the year the Blazers swept them 6-7 and 4-14. The Falcons lost Cris Hiche in the second game after that nasty injury which resulted in a fractured wrist and finger for the Chilean slugger. The Blazers have been sitting out the last few weeks due to the BBF rule which states that a game can be rescheduled if a team is missing three or more players due to international call-ups.

   

We understand that their ace pitcher Jordan Edmonds is likely to be back from his spell playing in the USA. If so, Herts will need to plan how exactly to approach him knowing that he will not allow many runs. Who should they put on the mound in that game? If Abel Salas is back he would be the obvious choice with an ERA of 2.85. Over his last four starts he has recorded an ever increasing number of strikeouts – 6 against the Mets, 7 at the Mustangs, 10 against the Pirates and a season-high 14 versus the Nationals. On other hand Jose Sosa has been a revelation. If Mike Osborn manages to recover from his arm injury, he can be just as effective. Then there is shortstop Ryan Hackel who was asked to pitch 5 innings against Southampton on Sunday and he shut them down. His ERA currently stands at 1.40. So it looks like there is a lot for manager Lee Manning to think about ahead of, and during, the game .

This is the last home game of the regular season for the Falcons – last opportunity for Herts fans to come out in force and support the team before they go on a 6-game road trip to complete the regular season. The game starts at 12pm at Grovehill Ballpark in Hemel Hempstead.

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Herts U12 wow with triple play and doubleheader win

Herts runner is about to hop over a ground ball as he heads to third in game one versus the Redbacks (photo by Vicky Sinclair)

Mike Wakelam reporting from Forest Glade Field

Saturday saw the Herts U12 squad head to Essex for a double header against the Redbacks for the first time this season. As this was the last game day before a holiday break, the Herts team was itching to go out on a high.

In the first game, they came out swinging, with 5 runs in each of the first and second innings, from a infield hits and aggressive base running. Aaron Witter took the mound for Herts and shut down the Redbacks in the first inning, before a walk came round to score in the second. A second runner trying to steal third was thrown out by Lucas Lebrato, with Oliver Durer applying the tag. Essex tightened things up and allowed fewer base runners for the remainder of the game, but aggressive Herts base-running ended in 16 runs through five. Essex threatened in the fourth with bases loaded and no outs. A fly ball to shallow right was caught by James Dullea, but with runners leaving early, he fired to second for the second out and over to third to complete a triple play – the whole team erupted with excitement.

Aaron Witter didn’t allow a hit through 4 innings, striking out many with heat, but issuing a few walks saw his pitch count climb and so Josh Jones came in to close it out. Essex scored a few runs in the inning before Josh settled down and got the final out to seal the 16-7 victory for Herts. In all, it was a thrilling game and having the pass ball and stealing rule in effect, combined with a close backstop, saw some thrilling plays, including close plays at the plate.

The second game was a much tighter affair, with Essex taking a 3-1 lead in the first, then Herts coming back with 3 in the second. Essex tied it up in the bottom of the inning with one run, but James Dullea’s composure saw him shut down their offence for the rest of the game. James was pounding the strike zone, and the defence was backing him up. Infielders were catching pop-ups, outfielders firing balls back into the cut-offs to limit damage and Christian Lynch was hustling after balls to keep runners at third. Herts scored 2 runs in each of the final 2 innings to take an 8-4 lead, but with James Dullea’s pitch count getting up, the team decided to bring back Josh Jones for the final inning. As he was warming up, Essex advised that he’d throw one too many pitches in the previous game to be used in this game, so James came back on with 10 pitches remaining to try to close it out. He got the first out on the second pitch with a popup to Nicholas Durer at second. After the next batter reached base, James continued to throw strikes, getting a ground ball to third which Oliver Durer got over to first in time for the second out. Having reached his pitch count, Lucas Lebrato came in to close it out. With bases loaded and the tying run at the plate, Lucas struck out the final batter to end the game and complete a double victory in our first trip to Essex this season.

Pitching and Defence wins games. What stood out in my memory after getting home on Saturday, is that I don’t think there was one errant throw or play in the field all day by our under 12s. There were a couple of throws that didn’t make it in time, but no one threw the ball unnecessarily, and no one missed a ball that they could reach. The pitching from everyone was outstanding and everyone was swinging the bats. Two well earned victories to head to the break with. Well done.