Category: Hawks

by Herts Baseball News Editor

The greatest ever?

by Ken Pike

One of the wonderful things about popular sports is the debate that it causes. No matter whether listening to my girlfriend’s brother discussing the merits of the latest round of walk spoiling (golf), or hearing the commentators of Euro 2012 hailing Spain as possibly the greatest football team of all time, there is endless debate to be had thanks to the endless supply of ways to measure greatness.

Spain have won two world cups and a Euro competition back to back now and entered the record books for most goals in a final and many other reasons too, whereas the magical abilities of Pele et al in 1970 remain football legend over 40 years later. Whether Spain 2012 or Brazil 1970 is the greatest team of all time could only ever be settled by pitting the two sides against each other, but unless time travel is invented and applied to the use of measuring sporting greatness, it is both a sad fact and a beautiful thing that we shall never know.

The simple thing is that winning margins, statistics of accuracy, efficiency etc are all determined not only by the winning team, but by the class of the teams they face. It could be argued that Spain were phenomenal in 2012, but frankly much of their opposition was mediocre at best with their expected big final opponents Germany getting knocked out by the same France side that barely beat a poor England side.

In the world of motor racing, for much of the 90s Michael Shumacher dominated the championships winning race after race by enormous margins. He has records that will likely never be broken over a glorious career. However, his comeback into the sport three years ago have put all of that into question as he now races in a less potent car than the blistering Ferrari, he is regularly out qualified by his young compatriot teammate, and he has failed to get a win since his return. Was his amazing form in the 90s due to having by far the fastest car and weak opposition or was it due to a greatness and spark that he has now all but lost?

There are countless more examples I could go through of seemingly unbeatable records getting smashed: Mark Spitz’s five Olympic golds got ruined by Michael Phelps getting eight, youngest racer to win a grand prix Fernando Alonso got beat by some German lad called Sebastian who might be quite good some day, Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron no longer have their names next to home run records thanks in no small part to medicinal advances helping the likes of Bonds to achieve improbable muscle mass, and so on and so forth. But does that mean the modern versions that superseded them are better, or do they face weaker opposition and are they helped by better sport science (or possibly steroids in some cases – let’s face it, some cases have been pretty clear cut, but even unproven accusations mean that whether Usain Bolt is a force of nature or a force of medicine is likely to be debated long after his career is over and he is just one current example of many such allegations among current sporting excellence.)

So it is rare the be able to unequivocally say that a team or player is the greatest ever. What is more possible is to say that a team is having its greatest year or period ever. The Spanish football team are certainly claiming that one right now, Bolt must be looking at London 2012 with a feeling of supreme confidence and young Mr Vettel can look back at last year as being an early pinnacle in his career that he can aim to surpass in future years.

It gets even harder when you talk baseball. Most wins in a season? 1906 Cubs/2001 Mariners. Most hall of famers? Complicated: as one of the oldest teams Giants have 56 that ever played for them, Yankees have 21 whose names are associated with them primarily, and 1927 Yankees had the most at one time including some blokes called Ruth and Gherig. Some recent current teams, notably the 98 Yankees, have line-ups that include a lot of future hall of famers but they are not yet eligible and can’t be discounted. Biggest winning margins? Again the ‘27 Yankees outscoring opponents by almost 400 runs. Win streaks? Dynasty eras? Overcoming the toughest opposition? Who knows.

Best players, let alone their best years are just as hard if not harder to measure even if you boil it down to position. Would you rather have hall of famers Aaron, Ruth, Gherig, Dimaggio, Young, Ryan, or current greats like Rodrigues, Puyols, Halladay, Hamilton or Lincecum on your dream team? Let’s face it, a large part of your decision making process in this question will be based on what shirt you choose to wear on your days off watching ESPN. Being a D’backs fan I would probably pick some names that would have experienced pundits (and many of you) in fits of laughter.

Some will analyse further looking at the stats, but do these take into account developments in the sport? Hamilton and Lincecum are pitching against the grain with modern sports science helping batters extract every last ounce of speed and power from every hit. Pujols and Rodrigues are certainly more athletic opponents than Ryan or Young faced back in the day. There are other metrics which can’t even be reasonably compared, for example the fastest officially recorded pitch is 105 mps by Aroldis Chapman in 2010 at PETCO ballpark, but anecdotally Nolan Ryan hit that speed regularly.

So what about Herts baseball club? I don’t have access to individual player records so I won’t go into that at this level but throughout the relatively brief (in baseball terms) history of the club, there have certainly been some impressive highs. The Falcons have won the double A league in 2004 and 2007 and the Triple A in 2008. The junior teams have had recent success with the Herts All Stars winning the Under 14s Futures Tournament and the 2010 National Baseball Championship heralding a very bright future. The club has been the largest club in the leagues by membership numbers, and in amateur sports that alone is a measure of success.

This year however, with the playoffs only a few short weeks away, all four senior teams have hit highs that were never expected 12 months ago. The Hawks and Falcons are fighting tooth and nail to gain top spot going into the post season, while in the single A both the Eagles and Raptors are in with a shout of making the playoffs. Admittedly the Eagles are facing very long odds that would require a mixture of other results going their way and some impressive upsets against top of the league teams, the Raptors have one toe in the door with a win against the mid table Mavericks next weekend all but securing their passage to the playoffs and a second win against barrel scraping Richmond sealing the deal.

As a club, rather than four individual teams, the Herts are experiencing a real renaissance after a difficult couple of years. Last year’s departure of many top players thanks in no small part to departing players forming their own team and pulling top class players with them left all three remaining teams struggling to compete at their respective levels. The Falcons finished 2011 with a 4-19 record that was not much to sing about, the Eagles taking a sabbatical from appearing at all thanks to a lack of players, the Hawks marginally bettered the Falcons record with 5-15 and the Raptors had started the season depleted of experience and getting beaten up by teams that should have arguably played at a higher level though they turned around the second half and finished with three wins to their name providing a glimpse of things to come.

The Falcons started the season with a win against Bracknell. Can they keep the momentum going as they face the Blazers again this Sunday?

This year has been a case of night and day. Impressive big name acquisitions in the pre season at the Falcons level had the effect of solidifying all the lower teams, allowing the Hawks and Raptors to cling on to players that might have ordinarily been asked to do their best at a higher league. The Falcons now boast some of the best players in the leagues and as such are fighting a pitched battle with the Nationals and the fading Mets for top spot.

The Hawks led ably by the managing partnership of Andy Cornish and Greg Bochan who both provide hitting power coupled with catching and pitching might respectively, are joint top with the Mammoths and Sidewinders with everything to play for in the last few games.

The Raptors started slightly shakily in their first two games but soon moved up the gears and now play with ever increasing confidence with a stunning win over the Old timers putting their playoff future in their own hands courtesy of a homer from powerhouse Gilberto Medina, 6 for 6 batting by yours truly and a composed and solid pitching performance by young Jake Caress adding to a season accented by the impressive performances of the young additions to the squad. They go into a must win game against the Mavericks knowing that if they can take the Archers to the wire and beat the grumpy men from Enfield, they can bring the fight to anyone in the league.

The newly reformed Eagles settled in to the single A with low expectations placed upon them as supposed training grounds for new and young blood. New manager Duncan Hoyle had different ideas from being the whipping boys though and benefitted from some very talented new players including the defensive powers of pitcher Reagan Wood and offensive abilities of the current Eagles home run leader Aidrian Smithers (he has 1). They now sit level on games with the supposedly superior Raptors (who they fought well against earlier in the season despite ultimately losing) however facing much tougher opposition for their final games and head to head results against the Raptors and other nearby teams going against them.

Could one, two or perhaps three of the Herts teams be national champins again this season?

The Falcons, Hawks and Raptors all hold the reigns now and can decide their own futures by winning from here on in. The Eagles face a battle, but having already far exceeded expectations, I would not be the one to bet against them, and just how great would a semi final playoff between the Eagles and raptors be? What are the chances of all four teams getting to the playoffs? Slim, admittedly, but possible. The chances of winning the whole lot and finishing with three new trophies in our cabinet? The chances of making the best year in Herts history? The chances of turning the 2012 Herts into a three league winning club?

The greatest season ever can only be determined by history, by ultimate results, and the names on the trophy at the end of it. With equal parts steel, determination, teamwork, skill and importantly luck Herts can achieve staggering heights. In this country, August is when baseball history is made.

What might be the greatest Herts season ever, has only just begun.

PLAYOFF SCENARIOS

Falcons

Falcons face double headers against rivals Mets and Nationals next followed by easy games against bottom of the table Croydon Pirates and Bracknell Blazers. Four out of four against the Mets and Nationals would put them in top spot and leave their fates in their hands. Four losses would leave them with a good chance of playoffs but the Diamondbacks and Mustangs would likely be taking them to the wire. With this many games left there are too many permutations to list them all.

Hawks

The Hawks also face the Sidewinders and Mustangs in their fight to make the playoffs but with several rain postponements there are still a lot of games to play. Wins against the top teams would put them in a strong position but there are not many easy games left for them with the Brentwood Stags providing the only bottom three club for them yet to face, the rest are mid table must winners. Again, with 7 games left, there are too many permutations to list.

Raptors

The win against the Old Timers puts them in the driving seat. With head to heads largely going their way with their opponents, a win against Guildford next week puts them firmly in charge of the wildcard spot. Head to head results against the Eagles, Old timers, and Mavericks makes a win against bottom of the table Richmond would guarantee passage regardless of results, but even a loss in the second game would need freak results elsewhere to knock them out. A collapse by Hove Tuesday could even get them top wildcard place, but the Marauders and the Archers have pretty much sealed the top spots. However, a loss to Mavericks spins that on its head and leaves them needing results elsewhere to go their way whether they win the following week or not.

Eagles

The Eagles sit level with the Raptors on wins and losses, but behind in the table having lost their head to head. To make matters worse, their final opponents are Hove Tuesday and London Marauders, both teams they will have a tough time beating. For the Eagles to progress they would likely have to win both games and other results would need to go their way. Either Hove would need a complete collapse for the rest of the season paving the way for Raptors and Eagles to both qualify, or the Eagles do it at the cost of the Raptors, but they need to better the Raptors record not equal it.

 

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Hawks in a three-way tie at the top of the AA League

Seth Lipstock's 5-for-5 in game 2 pushed his batting average up to .500 (third in the Hawks batting average ranking)

The Herts Hawks climbed to the top of their AA League Pool with two wins in their doubleheader with the Essex Redbacks.

In game 1 Nick Russell continued his impressive performances on the mound. He pitched a complete game allowing only 1 run which was unearned. His ERA now stands at 2.70. The Herts defence committed only 1 error behind him. They faced the always-effective Redbacks pitcher, Sean Briscomb, who didn’t walk any batters, but despite being kept quite early in the game, the Herts batters managed to drive in the runs they needed to claim the win. Louis Hare was 2-for-3 which included a solo homerun to right-centerfield in the fifth. The Hawks received a major boost welcoming back Jim Arnott who went 3-for-3. Tim Elkins was also back in the lineup and he also had a good day with 2-for-2.

Click to view game 1 box scores and play-by-play.

In game 2 the Hawks’ batting lineup was even more potent. Seth Lipstock hit 5-for-5 with 2 doubles to add to his 2-for-4 hitting performance in the first game. Jon Lewys showed the fearsome power which he can bring to the lineup with 2 doubles, and Andy Cornish also joined the party with a double which almost went over the left-centerfield wall for a home run. Aspi Dimitrov also contributed going 3-for-3. Herts had a comfortable lead throughout the game for starting pitcher Nic Goetz who was pitching another gem. He allowed only 4 hits and one walk, and the RedBacks will be pleased to have driven in two runs with so few base runners to work with all game. Michael Jones drove the two runs for Essex with a stand up double which went all the way to the right-centerfield wall. Those two runs proved to be merely a consolation for Essex as the Hawks ended the game with a final score of 12-2.

Click to view game 2 box scores and play-by-play.

Louis Hare went deep over the right-centerfield wall on Sunday. His slugging average is now .680

The two wins put the Hawks (8-4) tied in first place with the Sidewinders (8-4) and the London Mammoths (8-4) while the Daws Hill Spitfires (5-4) are lurking dangerously behind them. With 3 weeks of the regular season remaining these are the four teams which are virtually confirmed to qualify for the playoffs, however all will be fighting tooth and nail to finish first or second as finishing third or fourth would pair them against the invincible leaders of Pool A, Guildford Mavericks (14-0) and Poole Piranhas (12-1), as well as losing home-field advantage.

To avoid the Mavericks and the Piranhas, the Hawks need to win all of their remaining 4 games and hope that the Sidewinders will slip up in at least one of their remaining games. Next for the Hawks is a trip to the Thames Valley Bisons (6-4) who are currently third and looking for postseason glory of their own.

 

by Herts Baseball News Editor

AA All-Star candidates announced

Louis Hare has 7 RBIs so far this year. Hawks need several more to catch up with Hare if they are going to compete against the big guns in the AA League.

The BBF AA League has announced the All-Star candidates from each of the AA southern league teams.

The candidates from the Herts Hawks are Louis Hare, Nic Goetz and Nick Russell.  They all feature heavily in the main statistics categories for the Hawks so far this season.

Louis Hare leads in the batting average (.444) and slugging average (.556)  categories.  He also has the highest number of RBIs with 7.

Goetz and Russell have each lodged a couple of wins as the main starting pitchers for the Hawks. Nic Goetz has the lowest ERA of 1.80 although Greg Bochan may have something to say about this when he accumulates the required minimum number of innings pitched, as soon as the rain stops. Bochan currently has an ERA of 1.50 which is even more impressive knowing that it was recorded in a game against the best team in Pool B, the Sidewinders.

Nic Goetz currently has the best opposition batting average among the Hawks pitchers with an impressive .161. In the base-running category, Paul Auchterlounie is in the lead with 8 stolen bases.

Read the full list of All-Star candidates of all AA League teams in an article written by Michael Jones, who has provided the best media coverage in the history of the AA League. The article will also give Hawks coaches and players valuable scouting information ahead of the remaining deciding games and the postseason playoffs, which the Hawks hope to be playing in next month (click to view article).

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Venue of Hawks vs Mustangs game switched. Eagles to face Bucks on the same day

The venue of the Herts Hawks vs Southampton Mustangs II game on 29 July has been switched and the game will be played at Grovehill Ballpark.

On July 29 the Herts Hawks were scheduled to make their longest trip of the year to play on the south coast against the Southampton Mustangs in a key AA-League game. Due to a clash at Southampton’s field, the game has been switched to Herts and will be played at the Hawks’ home Grovehill Ballpark in Hemel Hempstead.

On the same day the Herts Eagles have arranged an exhibition game versus Milton Keynes Bucks. This game will also take place at Grovehill Ballpark.

Both games are scheduled to will start at 12pm.

 

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Herts Eagles prepare for the London Tournament while Falcons, Hawks and Raptors focus on league race

John Kjorstad at last year's London Tournament Home Run Derby

Every year in the middle of July Herts Baseball Club sends its teams out to the International London Tournament for 2 days of non-stop baseball. The tournament is hosted by the Croydon Pirates who do a fantastic job every year.

This year the league schedule has been hit hard by the never-ending rain. The Herts adult teams have a backlog of games which they must fit into whatever free dates remain between now and the postseason in August. This weekend is one of those opportunities to catch up. The Herts Falcons will travel to Finsbury Park for a doubleheader against the London Mets after this match-up was rained out twice already. The Hawks will play a doubleheader versus the Essex Redbacks. This will be a home game at Grovehill Ballpark in Hemel Hempstead. The Raptors have a must-win game against the Old Timers, also at home.

With so many Herts teams involved in league action this weekend there was a risk of Herts not being represented at the London Tournament, however Herts Eagles Manager, Duncan Hoyle, with the support from a group of Herts single-A players managed to put together a team for both Saturday’s and Sunday’s tournament games in Croydon.

We will keep you updated about their adventures in south London throughout the weekend, as well as the outcome of Sunday’s league games involving the other 3 Herts adult teams.

 

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Hawks’ game at Grovehill Ballpark rained out. Raptors and Eagles away games also cancelled

Despite several ground inspections and anxious monitoring of rain radars and weather forecasts, the AA League crunch game between Guildford Mavericks and Herts Hawks at Grovehill Ballpark in Hemel Hempstead has been postponed due to waterlogged diamonds.

The Raptors and Eagles also received bad news this morning.  The Raptors trip to Guildford Mavericks II was has been postponed. It will now be played on 22 July 2012.

The Herts Eagles visit to Pavilion Field in Brighton for their game against Hove Tuesday was also wiped out by the weather.  The game has been rescheduled for 5 August 2012.

Many other games across the country have been affected after the heavy rainstorm travelled from the south coast northwards and flooded everything in its path.

We are expecting news of the NBL game at Northbrooks Playing Fields in Harlow between the Herts Falcons and the Harlow Nationals and this page will be updated if the game is called off.

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Big weekend for Herts teams in race for the national championships

Herts Falcons hope that Phil Clark will be back in time for duel with Harlow (photo by British Baseball Magazine)

Friday night’s red weather warning issued by the weather office seemed to fizzle-out on Saturday and although events like the Formula 1 British Grand Prix qualifying was affected badly, further South, the women’s tennis final at Wimbledon went ahead.

With the fear of a rainout out of the way attention turns to 4 pivotal games for the 4 Herts senior league teams.

FALCONS (12-4) @ NATIONALS (15-4)

After 3 weeks without league action, the Herts Falcons go into battle with the reigning champions. The Harlow Nationals’ last loss came on 10 June when they last met the Falcons. They went on to a 4-game winning streak which took them back into first place. Teams are reluctant to look beyond their next game, but both the Nats and the Falcons can be forgiven for having one eye on the postseason NBCs. There may not be much difference between finishing first or second in the regular season, other than the sense of achievement, however both teams know that losing both games of Sunday’s doubleheader could drag them into the unpredictability of the one-game playoff which awaits the teams which finish fourth and fifth in the regular season. The Lakenheath Diamondbacks’ stunning sweep of the London Mets last weekend was a wake-up call for the four teams ahead of them. That game saw the emergence of Taylor Portman who provided power with the bat but more importantly looked like he can shut down even the most potent of batting lineups. The Taylor Portman-factor will now be on the back of Nats and Falcons minds. This adds an extra edge on a matchup which was already highly-charged after the fireworks on 10 June which almost resulted into a bench-clearing brawl.

MAVERICKS (14-0) @ HAWKS (6-4)

The best team in the BBF AA-League travel to Grovehill Ballpark. The Guildford Mavericks seem unbeatable as they have won all 14 games of the season so far. They have already booked their place in the AA postseason playoffs. The Herts Hawks are also in a comfortable position in terms of postseason qualification, however the stunning form of the Guildford Mavericks and the Poole Piranhas on the other hand is giving the top four teams in Pool B, sleepless nights. The teams which finish third and fourth in Pool B face the daunting prospect of meeting either Guildford or Poole so there is a sense of panic among the top 4 teams in Pool B to finish first or second and avoid the AA favourites.

Herts Baseball's young prospects will need to step up to keep the Raptors alive in the race for the postseason

A win for the Hawks this Sunday could lift them into second place. A loss could put them way down into fourth which could mean that they would have to face the Guildford Mavericks in the first round of the playoffs. The game starts at 12pm at Grovehill Ballpark in Hemel Hempstead. If the Hawks can get the job done quickly enough they may be able to catch the Olympic Torch Relay which passes through Hemel Hempstead this Sunday afternoon from 4:30pm.

RAPTORS (4-3) @ GUILDFORD MAVERICKS II (4-3)

While the Hawks try to end Guildford’s unbeaten run, the Raptors will be looking to keep their playoff hopes alive when they travel to Guildford’s second team. Both teams have 4 wins and 3 losses each and both need a win to stay in the race. Raptors Manager, Arnie Longboy, will be missing a large number of his starting 9 so he will need the Under-17 players who have been called up to hit the ground running when they make their AA league debut this Sunday.

HERTS EAGLES (5-3) @ HOVE TUESDAY (5-0)

The Eagles are still in the race for the playoffs but they will need to give their best performance of the season if they are going to overcome the unbeaten Hove Tuesday. The newest team in the A-League has blown away their opponents winning all of their games with the mercy rule enforced after 7 innings. Can the Eagles shock British Baseball with a win on the South Coast.

 

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Squeaky bum time

As the baseball season entered the month of July, the battle for the postseason playoffs is simmering nicely. In the AA League the top two teams in Pool B South met at the ballpark in Enfield for a colossal double header. The Sidewinders were sitting on top of the standings, just one game ahead of the second-placed Herts Hawks.

The Hawks opened the game with a single and a double by Louis Hare and Jon Lewys, respectively. Andy Cornish was walked to load the bases with 2 outs but the Sidewinders pitcher managed to get out of that bases-loaded jam without any damage.

Nick Russell was the starting pitcher for the Hawks and he responded by retiring the Sidewinders on 3 fly outs. Both pitchers kept putting zeros up on the scoreboard through the first 4 innings. Russell was very effective allowing only 2 hits over that period. This was turning into a classic pitching duel and both teams were showing why they are top of the AA standings.

Herts drew first blood in the fifth inning. Paul Auchterlounie hit a single up the middle and stole second. He was followed by Jon Lewys who drove him in to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead.

The Sidewinders responded swiftly putting together their first real offensive rally of the day with 3 doubles and 2 singles to take a 3-1 lead. Herts sprung into action. A sacfly by Ralph Bartholomew brought home Andy Cornish and Kal Dimitrov somehow managed to beat out a ground ball to bring his brother Aspi Dimitrov home to tie the game and go into the final inning with a score of 3-3.

In that final inning Louis Hare got on base on an error. The next two Herts batters managed to move Hare to third base, but there were now two outs with big-hitting Andy Cornish coming up next. The Sidewinders called a mound conference and their first baseman, Bruce Dullea, provided some valuable inside information having played for and managed the Herts Falcons in 2005, 2006 and 2007. He alerted his team mates that Cornish is a dangerous batter and they decided to pitch around him to walk him and face Aspi Dimitrov instead who was playing in his first game after being on the DL for the last 10 months with shoulder and hamstring injuries. Dimitrov hit a 2-out single to left-centerfield driving two runs in to make the score 5-3.

Could the Sidewinders come back from this in the bottom of the last inning? Two singles and two stolen bases brought one run in. It was now 5-4 with the tying run at third and 1 out. Nick Russell was still on the mound and he needed to use every ounce of energy he had left to keep the runner on third from scoring. The only way to guarantee this was to make sure that batters did not make contact with the ball and that’s exactly what he did. He took the next 2 batters to full count and struck out both of them leaving the tying run on third base and securing a priceless win for Herts.

Nick Russell will get the praise, and rightly so, but it is also worth noting that he had tremendous support from the whole team who played errorless defence.

Click to view game 2 box scores and play-by-play

In game two the Sidewinders put their ace pitcher, Tadaaki, on the mound looking for revenge. He had a no-hitter earlier in the year and he showed why. Consistent control and change of speed make him a very awkward pitcher to face. The Hawks were having real problems making solid contact. Tadaaki was pitching a perfect game (no hits, no walks) in the first 5 innings of the second game. On top of that the Hawks had a very sloppy start of the game. They committed 3 errors and allowed 5 runs to score in the top of the first inning. 4 of the 5 runs were unearned (i.e. resulting from the fielding errors). The Hawks defence recovered after that and managed to give starting pitcher, Greg Bochan, the support he needed. The team was working efficiently again and Bochan was pitching a gem. They allowed only 1 run in the next 6 innings, but the big challenge was to find a way to score runs against pitcher Tadaaki.

Into the top of the 6th and a light appeared at the end of the tunnel. Seth Lipstock, who had a great game at third base, ended Tadaaki’s perfect game with a lead-off single. Kal Dimitrov followed with a single of his own. With 2 outs, Lipstock came around to score as Andy Cornish and Louis Hare got on base on fielding errors. Both Cornish and Hare scored after an infield hit by Aspi Dimitrov and an error throw. That reduced the deficit to 6-3.

Into the final inning Tadaaki was still going strong. Despite a single from Greg Bochan, Tadaaki completed the game in style with a groundout and two strikeouts.

Click to view game 2 box scores and play-by-play

After the games Hawks co-manager, Andy Cornish, said: “Today, was a great game of baseball and very enjoyable to be in such a contest. We played against very good opposition, and shown that we can play with the top teams in this league, even with a depleted side. We have some more tough opposition to come, but with the way that we played today I am encouraged about our chances in pushing forward to the playoffs. Today, we played great baseball for 13 out of the 14 innings, and next time we will do so in every inning, there is no doubt in my mind.”

Today’s games emphasised just how hotly contested the title race is in the AA league. With the Daws Hill Spitfires and the London Mammoths picking up wins today it looks like the playoff race will go down to the wire. In the words of Manchester United Manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, it is “squeaky bum time”. The Hawks remain one game behind the Sidewinders, but they are now third after the Mammoths jumped above them. The focus is now on the next Hawks game on Sunday, 8 July, against the Pool A leaders Guildford Mavericks who are still unbeaten with a 14-0 record so far this season. The game will be played at Grovehill Ballpark in Hemel Hempstead. First pitch 12:00pm.

 

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Falcons vs Mets and Hawks vs Stags cancelled due to flooded diamonds

The heavy rain over Hertfordshire last night has flooded both diamonds at Grovehill Ballpark and the eagerly awaited NBL clash between the Herts Falcons and the London Mets has been postponed.  The Herts Hawks’ game with the Brentwood Stags has also been cancelled, which means no games in Herts this Sunday.

The games will have to be played later in the year and we will keep you updated about the news dates for these games.

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Something’s gotta give, again

3 May 2009 was the last time the Falcons beat the London Mets with a late rally against relief pitcher Rob Anthony

The Herts Falcons (12-4) are in the middle of a 6-week period during which they face their direct opponents in the race for the National Baseball League title. They won 3 of their last 4 games against the Harlow Nationals (13-4) and the Southampton Mustangs (12-5) last Sunday.

In both of these series their opponents came to Grovehill Ballpark as the team with the best defence (fewest runs allowed per game) in the league while the Falcons were the team with the best offence (most runs scored per game). Something had to give and it did. The Falcons bats drove in 24 runs putting a major dent in the Nationals runs allowed per game which stood at 4.30 before that weekend and they were no longer the best defence after that. Next up came the Mustangs. They had overtaken the Nationals as the team with the best defence but once again the Herts offence was too hot to handle scoring 27 runs in that doubleheader.

We have the same scenario this coming Sunday. The London Mets (10-3) come to Grovehill Ballpark having surged up the standings to within 1 game of the league leaders Harlow. They are now officially the team with the best defence with an impressive 4.46 runs allowed per game. Will defence prevail on this occasion or will the Falcons bats strike again for the third week in a row?

The London Mets are the only team yet to face the Herts Falcons this season and it promises to be a colossal duel. The two teams did meet in the Herts Spring League in March and the Falcons still have the bruises to prove it as Mets starting pitcher Pietro Sollecito shut the Herts offence down with a 7-0 win in that game. This Sunday the Falcons will be eager to prove that this was just a spring training glitch. First pitch is at 12pm.

24 HOURS EARLIER

The stands were packed with fans the last time Herts faced LYBL in the 2011 Under-14 national final

In fact the London vs Herts rivalry gets going 24 hours earlier with a London vs Herts doubleheader in the British U17 League. London are the reigning national champions at U17 level and they have a clear lead in the standings so far this season with a record of 10-2. However they come into the games after a loss to the Cobham Cougars just to prove that they are human after all.

There are more youth league games at Grovehill Ballpark on Saturday. LYBL come to town to face the Herts U14 team in a repeat of last year’s National Final. Many of the Herts players from last year have moved into the U17 age group so this is a chance for the new generation of U14 players to carry the Herts flag. In the U11 bracket the Dodgers and the Giants series resume. They are tied 1-1.

RAPTORS AND HAWKS WITH POSTSEASON AMBITIONS

The Herts Raptors travel to Tonbridge on Sunday looking to build further momentum after their 14-5 win against the Eagles last week. The Herts Hawks return after 3 weeks of rest. They host the Brentwood Stags in a AA-League doubleheader in what is proving to be a very close race for the postseason playoffs.