Category: Ducks

30 May 202331 May 2023 by Herts Baseball News Editor

Adult and Youth League Roundup (27-28 May)

Only 3 of the 7 Herts adult league teams were in action at the weekend.

National Baseball League
The Herts Falcons are back in the playoff race after a win over the Essex Arrows – a team featuring a number of former MLB Minor League players (read full report and box scores).

Double-A League
The Herts Ducks lost narrowly to crosstown rivals the Meteors. They are still searching for their first win of the season.

Single-A League
Similar to their Opening Day encounter, the Herts Ravens and Milton Keynes Bucks produced another two nail-biting games. This time the Ravens came out on top winning 7-6. The other game of this doubleheader was suspended after extra innings with the score tied at 5-5. We will have to wait to find out if the game will be completed when the two teams meet again on July 2nd or whether it will be recorded as a tie under BBF Rule 21.

Herts Youth Baseball League
Only one game in the U11 division which Herts Londoners won 8-6 against the Herts Cardinals (U11). A grandslam home run by Alexis Marriaga on his debut proved to be decisive.

Scores from the weekend’s adult and youth league games involving Herts teams (view)
BBF Adult League Standings (view)
Herts Youth Baseball League Standings (view)
Next games (view)

9 May 202310 May 2023 by Herts Baseball News Editor

Flying together: Ducks lose nail-biter

Formosa Islanders 21-20 Herts Ducks

by Kumail Jaffer

“You guys refused to die.”

One off-hand but sincere comment from the Formosa Islanders manager summed up the tenacity and grit the Herts Ducks showed in their inaugural Double-A fixture on Sunday.

The Formosa Islanders are a formidable outfit, having come through the Single-A ranks with their high-energy approach.

The Ducks were not intimidated at all as they played out this epic fixture at Wormwood Scrubs – but fell short, at the last, of a miraculous comeback.

The home side took on the Ducks’ ace Alex Trautman to score four in the first inning – but the young pitcher locked it down in his remaining innings to limit the Islanders’ hit-and-run approach.

On the other end, the Ducks were going steadily, if unspectacularly. 8-5 down after the fourth inning, the Ducks needed something special to gain control of the game.

The team had done well to drive up the opposing pitcher’s count with every at bat, meaning walks were becoming more regular. Four in a row brought home Kumail Jaffer, Prime Mencias, Alex Trautman, and Max Trautman. Solid hits from Evan Robins scored Bradley Charalambous and Jake Spicer before Alex Trautman returned to the batter’s box with the bases loaded.

On a full count, the ace pitcher launched it well beyond the left field fence to score a grand slam and bring the Ducks’ total for the inning to double digits.

He followed it up by allowing just a single run through in the next inning, putting the Ducks firmly in control. But after a score draw in the sixth, the Islanders got back into the game with a monster 7th-inning rally to put them 18-17 ahead.

But the Ducks never stopped quacking. Three runs at the top of the 9th saw them needing to lock down the Formosa side to take the game to extra innings.

It wasn’t to be.

But the spirit shown away from home against a very solid outfit is encouraging.

Captain Brad Charalambous said: “I am so unbelievably proud of the Ducks for coming together and battling it out with the Islanders.

“They are a well established and respected team and having the opportunity to play them was an excellent chance to test where we are in the pecking order.

“I’m proud of my Ducks for flying together and staying In the thick and thin of such a tough game.

“Like Henry Ford says, ‘Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success.'”

29 March 202330 March 2023 by Herts Baseball News Editor

Herts teams announce preliminary 2023 rosters for the HSL

The seven Herts teams have announced their preliminary rosters for the 2023 Herts Spring League.

We understand that these rosters are not fixed and it is likely that there may be movement between teams over the course of the HSL. Some players may play for more than one team as managers look to evaluate them ahead of the announcement of the 2023 Opening Day rosters.

The HSL games commence on April 1st.

New players are registering every week, therefore some new names may be added to the rosters over the course of the HSL and throughout the league season.

Herts Falcons (National Baseball League)

Alex Deacon
Alexander Paterson
Ben Morris
Ben Moruzzi
Benjamin Sporleder
Cole Nakazawa
Daniel Moran
Dylan Lawler
Eli Belizaire
Fraser Duggan
Harry Quixley
Jack Mccarthy
Jack Warrington
Kaden Horwood
Leo Nakazawa
Leon Gutowski
Matthew Moran
Max Manoff
Michael Cresswell
Nathan Simmons
Nicholas Effingham
Rene Torcato
Samuel Sporleder
Tasuku Ishihara
Tetsuro Shinkawa
Will Clayton

Herts Cardinals (Triple-A)

Andy Cornish
Arik Raviv
Brian Dearing
Chun Hung Wong
Erik Gustafson
Giorgio Ferroni
Hiroki Fujimoto
James Cavanagh
James Hicks
Javier Tomas
Joshua Pines
Naohiko Kumagai
Osvaldo Badia Rivero
Robert Laflamme
Roberto Hernandez
Sean Bennett
Tyler Cote
Vytas Macenas
Will Davis

Herts Ducks (Double-A)

Alexander Trautman
Bradley Charalambous
Bryan Mencias
Danilo Machado
David Mas
Evan Robins
Hang Li
Jake Spicer
John Del Riccio
Kumail Jaffer
Max Trautman
Miguel Gibson
Mohamed Abdule
Paras Patravale
Prime Mencias
Sebastian Cheng
Taysir Barakat

Herts Hawks (Double-A)

Antonio Lourenco
Callum Ferrier
Cameron Schultz
Declan Carlean
Gerrod Taylor
Giuseppe Basilea
Harry Ewen
Harry Mcmenamin
Jack Obrien
Kennet Pike
Michael Johnson
Noah Tabor
Peter Hogg
Thomas Hill
Todd Neville

Herts Eagles (Single-A)

Ahmed Hassan
Boran Sahin
Daniel Gipple
Eleni Xintaras
Francesco Meduri
George Llewelyn Thomas
James Tappenden
Jamie Lang-Richards
Joe Gipple
Joseph Flores
Mark Vidler-Connaughton
Michael Green
Neil Chilton
Peter Wilson
Reece Crawley
Reece Williamson-White
Saira Smith

Herts Raptors (Single–A)

Abdul Elhamri
Adam Scales
Billy Perry
Danny Preston
David Howard
Hamza Chowdhree
Jack Burkett
Jamie Berlofsky
Jamie Wise
John Kjorstad
Jordon Fox
Lauren Dutch
Lee Dunn
Lewis Auchterlounie
Martin Kuszewski
Max Farmbrough
Maxymus Kuszewski
Michael Cunningham
Nicholas Hine
Paul Auchterlounie
Rufus Lloyd
Steve Kis
Swar Panchal
Thomas Browne

Herts Ravens (Single-A)

Andrew Slater
Arnold Longboy
Cory English
Dan Taylor
Ed Moore
Eric Ferng
Gilberto Medina
Greg Bochan
Henry Bell
Hunter Devine
Jack Page
Joseph Field
Matthew Bell
Matthew Jackson
Nicolas Goetz
Norman Peng
Rob Jones
Sonam Lama
Wei Chieh Wang
Zak Beller

Players, from beginners to advanced, are continuing to register for the 2023 baseball season. For more details about how to join the Herts baseball teams in Hemel Hempstead and in NW London or for more details about the HSL or if you are interested to give baseball a try in this competition contact Herts Baseball Club.

Adult and youth players now registering for the 2023 baseball season

24 March 202328 March 2023 by Herts Baseball News Editor

2023 BBF league lineups and schedules released. Tough Opening Day opponents for the 7 Herts teams.

The British Baseball Federation has published the 2023 line-ups and schedules for the four league tiers.

National Baseball League

The Herts Falcons are making their return to the NBL which will feature seven teams this season. Arrows, Bruins, Capitals, Falcons, Mets, Vetra and the East London Latin Boys who are the other new team to enter the NBL following their promotion as the Triple-A national champions last year.

Each team will play 24 games in the regular season – 12 doubleheaders – facing each of the other six teams home and away. The postseason format and playoff qualification has not been announced yet but it is expected that the top four teams in the regular season standings will qualify for the playoff semi-finals on August 20^th with the winners meeting in the NBL championship best-of-3 series on 26 and 27 August.

The Falcons will make the long trip to Sheffield on Opening Day to face the Bruins on Sunday, April 16^th. Their home opener is a week later on Saturday, 22 April, when they host the reigning NBL champions, London Mets.

We understand the Falcons and the Latin Boys have submitted a request to the BBF to switch their series from June 18^th to Sunday July 23^rd at Grovehill Ballpark to enable the Latin Boys to take part in the Croydon Tournament. If the BBF approves this request, Herts plans to make this a special event. There are no games in any of the four BBF leagues on that weekend and Herts current and former club members and fans are advised to save the date – Sunday, 23 July.

Falcons schedule

As announced back in December, the 2023 NBL season will feel very different for Herts Falcons players and fans as the club is running the NBL Pilot Project and all their home games will be ticketed. Now that the game schedule has been published, ticket sales will be launched in the coming days.

The Herts Falcons go into the season as the rank outsiders but it is difficult to make any predictions at this stage as the roster has not been announced. We may have more information about their chances after we see the team in action for the first time in the HSL next week.

Go to the 2023 Herts Baseball Fan Survey

Triple-A League

Similar to the Falcons, the Herts Cardinals start the season by making the longest trip of the year away at the Bristol Badgers on Sunday, 16 April. Their first home game of the season is on April 30^th when they welcome their cross-town rivals, the London Metros.

Last year the Triple-A league consisted of two pools. This year it has been merged into one pool of eight teams. The Croydon Pirates are the new addition after they won the Double-A national championship last year.

Each team will face their opponents home and away in a regular season with a total of fourteen doubleheaders which will continue all the way into September.

Cardinals schedule

Double-A League

Herts Baseball Club was not represented in the Double-A league last year. This year they will have two teams in that league. The Herts Hawks have been promoted after reaching the Single-A national semi-final last year. They will be joined by the club’s expansion team – the Herts Ducks – who will play their home games at the club’s Basing Hill branch in north west London.

The offseason saw a surge of teams moving up from Single-A to Double-A and some moved down from Triple-A to Double-A so there will be four Double-A pools this year.

The Herts Hawks are in the “Central & East” pool alongside the Cambridge Lancers, Essex Archers, Milton Keynes Bucks and the Norwich Iceni. The Herts Ducks are in the “South” pool where they will compete against the Latin Boys (AA), Formosa Islanders, London Musketeers, London Meteors and the Sidewinders.

The Hawks open their season away at the Archers on 23 April while the Ducks are at home on 16 April against the Meteors. There will be no inter-pool matchups in Double-A so there will not be a Herts derby between the Ducks and the Hawks but they can hope to meet in the postseason.

Ducks schedule

Hawks schedule

Single-A League

With the Hawks promoted to Double-A, Herts will have three teams in the Single-A league this year. The BBF has chosen to minimize travel for teams and has allocated all three Herts teams in the same pool where they are joined by the Essex Redbacks (A) and the Milton Keynes Bucks (A). Surprisingly, the BBF has also decided to remove the inter-pool games from the regular season schedule which will reduce the variety of opponents in favour of less travel.

The Herts Eagles open their season away at the Bucks on 23 April. Raptors’ first game is on 7 May at home against the Eagles while the Herts Ravens will have to wait until 14 May to get their season underway at the MK Bucks.

With three Herts teams in the same pool, there will be nine Herts derbies to look forward to. We have to wait until the postseason format is announced to see whether having three Herts teams in the same pool will reduce the probability of seeing Herts teams in the playoffs.

Eagles schedule

Raptors schedule

Ravens schedule

HSL

But before the BBF league season commences, we will have the opportunity to see 17 of the teams play their first games of the year in the 2023 Herts Spring League which is played over two weeks starting on 1 and 2 April (see HSL preview article).

New players

New players are still able to join six of the seven Herts teams. A waiting list system is in effect for the Herts Raptors, but players can be assigned to the other Herts teams while they are on the Raptors waiting list. For more details, contact us.

13 March 202313 March 2023 by Herts Baseball News Editor

Countdown to HSL – first chance to see the teams ahead of the 2023 British baseball season

The biggest pre-season baseball competition in Britain is back. Commencing on April 1, the Herts Spring League (HSL) will see 17 teams compete over the two weeks of the HSL. Organised by Herts Baseball Club, it is Britain’s version of MLB’s Grapefruit and Cactus Leagues currently under way in the US, and it signals that the season is just around the corner.

Format

The 17 teams will be entered into three HSL tiers – NBL, Double-A and Single-A.

The organisers considered the possibility of a tournament format, but ultimately adopted a league format in the same way as the Grapefruit and Cactus Leagues in MLB. “The objective of the HSL is to enable the teams to prepare for the new season and we have noticed that teams are increasingly starting to approach the HSL in the same way as MLB teams approach the Grapefruit and Cactus Leagues” said HSL Commissioner, Aspi Dimitrov. He added “we have taken this into account when formulating the schedule putting greater emphasis on the preferences and preparatory requirements of the teams over the format of the competition”.

The teams finishing at the top of their respective division will be the HSL champions.

The Venue

The action will take place at both Grovehill Ballpark in Hemel Hempstead, and Basing Hill Ballpark in north west London.

Schedule

Over the two weekends 27 games are scheduled to be played on the three diamonds. The competition begins on April 1 with a morning clash between the Herts Hawks and the Single-A national champions, Bracknell Inferno. Both teams have been promoted to Single-A this year. At the same time on Diamond 2, there is a HSL Single-A match-up between the Herts Ravens and the Formosa Islanders.

The HSL NBL division teams play their frst games on Sunday, 2 April. This will be the first opportunity to see the Herts Falcons as they prepare to make their return to the NBL. There will be many new faces for Herts fans to meet for the first time as well as some fan favorites from previous NBL seasons. The preliminary Herts Falcons roster for the HSL will be announced later this month.

Some of the HSL NBL and Double-A games will be played at Basing Hill Ballpark, starting with the Herts Cardinals encounter with the Essex Redbacks who merged with the Essex Arrows earlier this year to create a much larger club with three diamonds in three different Essex towns which is expected to make them a major force in British baseball.

Click to view full 2023 HSL schedule

Excitement building up

The Herts Spring League adds a competitive edge to Spring training. It’s the time for managers to work out their winning formula going into the BBF league season. It is an opportunity to evaluate existing and newly recruited players. Which players will earn a spot in the pitching rotation and who will be batting where in the batting order? Who will make the first team and who will have to work their way up through the minor league system? Not forgetting, it’s a chance to size up your rivals for the year ahead. It’s the first big challenge and the first big excitement of the baseball year. Don’t miss it.

Get in the Game

Adult and youth players, from beginners to advanced, are now registering for the 2023 baseball season. For more details about how to join the Herts baseball teams in Hemel Hempstead and in NW London or for more details about the HSL or if you are interested to give baseball a try in this competition contact Herts Baseball Club.

Adult and youth players now registering for the 2023 baseball season

13 March 202313 March 2023 by Herts Baseball News Editor

17 teams will signal the arrival of Spring in the 2023 HSL

Herts Baseball Club has confirmed that 17 teams have entered this year’s Herts Spring League (HSL). The teams come from all British baseball leagues including the National Baseball League (NBL), Triple-A, Double-A and Single-A Leagues.

The HSL teams will be divided into three divisions as follows:

HSL (NBL) Teams

HSL (Double-A) Teams

HSL (Single-A) Teams

Schedule and Format

The HSL will be played over two weeks commencing on the weekend of 1-2 April and ending on 8-9 April. The HSL format and games schedule are expected to be announced shortly and hertsbaseball.com will bring this and all other HSL news as they happen.

4 January 202324 March 2023 by Herts Baseball News Editor

Herts Baseball Club adds more board members ahead of the 2023 season

The club has confirmed that the number of executive board members has increased to fifteen after the results of last month’s elections were announced along with the appointment of several additional board members who have been co-opted.

As part of the announcement of the partnership between Herts and Legends last month, it was already confirmed that the Herts Legends NBL team will be managed by Great Britain U18 national team manager and president of Legends Baseball Club, Jonathan Rodriguez. Today’s announcement confirms that he has now been appointed as a member of the club board.

In addition to his role as Herts Legends manager, he has also been appointed as co-General Manager alongside the two other co-GMs, Arnold Longboy (pictured right) and Aspi Dimitrov, who have also been co-opted having served in that role over the previous twelve months. Rodriguez will cover the on-field aspects of the GM role, while Longboy and Dimitrov will focus on operations off the field.

Ken Pike and Sean Bennett have been re-elected as board member as Herts Hawks manager and Herts Cardinals representative, respectively.

Matt Bell has also been re-elected as co-manager of the Herts Londoners and he will be working alongside Andrew Slater who returns to the board having previously co-managed the Herts Hawks in 2016 when the team became Single-A League national champion winning every regular season and postseason game they played that year.

Ken Pike and Andrew Slater have already had the sweet taste of becoming national champions in 2016. Can they do it again in 2023 as managers of the Herts Hawks and co-manager of the Herts Londoners, respectively?

Mike Cunningham has been elected to the board as the new Herts Raptors manager. The team finished far from the playoff places in 2022 but has a wealth of young talented players who are progressing rapidly and are expected to start imposing themselves on the league in the next few years.

The club’s hopes of adding a Double-A League team at its Basing Hill branch was a hot topic at the annual general meeting and the club has made a statement of intent by co-opting Miguel Gibson as manager of that proposed Double-A team. In 2022 he was a member of the Croydon Pirates who became Double-A national champions. The race is now on to see if the club will be able to put together a roster to add that missing piece at Basing Hill.

Players have started registering for the 2023 season and Herts team managers will shortly be assessing what the rosters might look like in 2023 in order to decide how many teams to enter this year and in which BBF leagues. The deadline for league entries is 31 January.

Players now registering for the 2023 season

The Herts youth baseball programme has also been strengthened with the election of Stephen Wong as head of the Hemel Hempstead under-13 department. He gave the programme an huge boost when he joined the youth coaching staff last year.

Aspi Dimitrov has also been re-elected as president and facilities manager for Grovehill Ballpark.

Link to the full list of 2023 board members. More members are expected to be added between now and Opening Day.

As part of the vote, club members approved the amendment of article 9.4 of the constitution related to the deadline for board nominations.