Posted on behalf of Herts Newswire Correspondent, DAVE HAMILTON

 

The Hertfordshire Hawks extended their winning start to the season on Sunday, putting in another strong defensive performance to defeat the Brentwood Stags 6-3 and retain their place on top of the British AA League standings. 

In a game that had a little of everything, including disputed umpiring calls and a rain delay, it was a three-run home run by Humberto Goncalves that ultimately made the difference and drove the Hawks to another hard-fought victory. 

Manager Carlos Casal praised the team performance saying “we have a strong squad this year and we’re playing some good aggressive baseball.  It’s still early and we have a few things to work on in training but it’s great to start the season with two wins.” 

The Hawks knew they would be in for a tough contest, travelling to a Brentwood side who had beaten the hotly tipped Bournemouth Sharks in their season opener.  However, they managed to keep the same defensive discipline they had produced in their first game, and the score remained at 1-1 after four innings. 

That is not to say the game was what baseball afficionados would call a ‘pitching duel’ as both sides managed to consistently threaten only to have their chances snuffed out at the crucial moment.  Hawks pitcher John Oliver showed composure under pressure to keep the Stags off the scoreboard, ably supported by some solid infield defense, with the Hawks showing the benefits of their more intensive pre-season training to turn two double plays in the early innings.

Despite the low score the game was proving very eventful, with players from both sides questioning some debatable umpiring decisions, and several runners being caught out on the base paths.  The most surprised of these was Oliver, who expected his hit to be caught, only for two Stags outfielders to collide and miss the ball.  Looking to capitalise on this mistake, he raced for second base but was then thrown out by a perfect throw from the recovering fielder.

The Stags edged into a 3-1 lead in the fifth inning but this finally stirred the Hawks’ struggling offense into life.  With two outs, Ross Asquith used his speed to turn a weakly hit ball into a run scoring single and cut the gap to one.  This brought Humberto Concalves to the plate, who blasted the ball over the left field fence for the Hawks first home run of the year, much to the delight of the vociferous travelling supporters. 

Now holding a 5-3 lead, Hawks’ relief pitcher Stuart Boast kept the Stags at bay as Brentwood remained unable to find the crucial hit with runners in scoring position.  The Hawks added an insurance run in the eighth inning, before a rain delay threatened to bring the game to a premature end.  Luckily though the April shower abated and the Hawks retained their focus to close out the victory.

The Hawks now travel to play regular rivals the Richmond Dragons over the Bank Holiday weekend.  Looking forward to the encounter, catcher Kal Dimitrov commented “they gave us some tough games last year, so it will be tricky but hopefully we can get the bats going and score a few more runs”.  The Herts Manager is certain to be urging his hitters to go on the offensive as the Hawks look to avenge their pre-season defeat and extend their unbeaten run. 

Herts Hawks at Brentwood
Score By Innings	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Herts Hawks	1	0	0	0	0	4	1	0	0	6	12	3
Brentwood	1	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	3	11	4

Herts Hawks 6, Brentwood 3
Herts Hawks					Brentwood
	ab	r	h	bi		ab	r	h	bi
Ross Asquith rf	5	1	3	1	Player 1 p	5	2	3	0
Humberto Goncalves 2b	5	2	2	3	Player 2 c	4	0	2	0
John Oliver p	3	0	3	0	Player 3 1b	4	1	2	1
(b5) Stuart Boast p	2	0	0	0	Player 4 2b	5	0	1	0
Louis Hare 1b	5	1	1	0	Player 5 3b	5	0	1	0
(t1) Carlos Casal 3b	4	1	1	0	Player 6 ss	5	0	0	0
Kal Dimitrov 3b-c	4	0	1	1	Player 7 lf	2	0	1	0
Luis Goncalves ss	4	0	0	0	Player 8 cf	3	0	0	0
Tim Elkins lf	4	1	1	0	Player 9 rf	2	0	1	0
Dave Hamilton cf	3	0	0	0
(b6) Nick Russell cf	1	0	0	0
TEAM TOTALS	40	6	12	5	TEAM TOTALS	35	3	11	1

E: Stuart Boast(2), Luis Goncalves, Player 6(3), Player 5. DP: Herts Hawks 1. LOB: Herts Hawks 8, Brentwood 11. 2B: Player 1. 3B: Player 3. HR: Humberto Goncalves. SB: Louis Hare(2), Tim Elkins(2), Ross Asquith(2), Carlos Casal, Player 4(3), Player 1, Player 3, Player 2, Player 9. CS: John Oliver. S: Player 7.

Herts Hawks	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Stuart Boast W	5.00	3	0	0	4	1
John Oliver	4.00	8	3	1	1	4
Brentwood
Player 1 L	9.00	12	6	5	1	8

WP: Stuart Boast. T: 3:00. A: 30.

 

Posted on behalf of Herts Newswire Correspondent, DAVE HAMILTON

 

The Hawks got their season off to a flying start at Grovehill on Sunday, putting in a strong all-round performance to beat the Northampton Bucks 12-7 in their league opener.

 

After watching the Falcons starting their season with a pair of wins, the Hawks were keen to make it a clean sweep for the home team, and did well to quell an early threat from the Bucks without conceding any runs.

 

With their manager's team-talk ringing in their ears, the squad then produced an impressive combination of patient hitting and aggressive baserunning to take a 2-0 first inning lead, that they never lost throughout the game.  After two quick outs, Humberto Concalves sparked the  rally with a base hit, coming round to score on starting pitcher John Oliver's two run single.

 

Paul Auchterlonie's lead-off triple in the second inning helped the Hawks to extend their lead to 3-0, and Oliver held the Buck's hitters in check with the help of some excellent defensive work, right fielder Ross Asquith combining with first baseman Louis Hare to turn the Hawks' first double play of the season in the third inning.

 

The Hawks blew the game open in the fourth inning, extending their lead to 7-1 with another two out rally to capitalise on some mistakes from the Bucks, and while Northampton did mount a comeback in the late innings, they never seriously challenged the Hawks' lead.

 

A mention should go to Bucks’ Lithuanian pitcher Marius.  Fans of Herts Baseball Club remember him well as the pitcher who shut down the Herts Falcons in last year’s Final 4 when he was playing for the Humber Pilots.  Marius threw over 200 pitches in a complete game effort, but ultimately it was the Hawks' day as they completed victory behind the left-right pitching combination of Oliver and Hare.  Carlos Casal and Luis Goncalves produced key hits, and Hare hustled his way round the basepaths to score four of the Hawks 12 runs.  Overall, though it was the defensive work that was most impressive, with the whole squad – including late replacements Kal Dimitrov and Larry Martillo – contributing to a string of fine plays to cut the Bucks down on the basepaths.

 

Manager Carlos Casal will be looking for a similar performance next week, when the Hawks travel to Brentwood in the hope of extending their winning streak.

 

Opening Day Photos (Hawks)

 

More Opening Day Photos

Northampton at Herts Hawks
Score By Innings	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Northampton	0	0	1	0	1	0	3	0	2	7	13	8
Herts Hawks	2	1	0	4	3	0	2	0	0	12	10	4

Herts Hawks 12, Northampton 7
Herts Hawks					Northampton
	ab	r	h	bi		ab	r	h	bi
Ross Asquith rf	5	2	1	1	Geoff Finning 3b	4	1	0	0
Nick Russell lf	6	1	1	1	Edward Redgrave ss	2	2	1	0
Humberto Goncalves 2b	3	1	1	1	Tim Tamakucho c	5	1	4	2
(t5) Kal Dimitrov 2b	2	0	0	0	Jason Mathews cf	3	1	0	0
Louis Hare 1b-p	3	4	2	0	Ben Alexander lf	4	1	3	2
John Oliver p-1b	4	0	1	0	Marius p	5	1	2	2
(t8) Larry Martillo 1b	0	0	0	0	Simon rf	5	0	1	1
Carlos Casal 3b	4	1	2	1	Ross 1b	5	0	1	0
Dave Hamilton cf	3	0	0	0	John 2b	3	0	1	0
Paul Auchterlounie c	5	2	1	0
Luis Goncalves ss	4	1	1	0
TEAM TOTALS	39	12	10	4	TEAM TOTALS	36	7	13	7

E: Louis Hare(2), Humberto Goncalves, Carlos Casal, John(3), Marius(2), Ross(2), Edward Redgrave. DP: Herts Hawks 2. LOB: Northampton 10, Herts Hawks 11. 3B: Paul Auchterlounie. SB: Carlos Casal(2), Ross Asquith(2), Louis Hare(2), John Oliver, Nick Russell, Luis Goncalves, Edward Redgrave(4), Simon(2), Ross, Jason Mathews, Tim Tamakucho, Geoff Finning. CS: Edward Redgrave, Simon, Ben Alexander. SB: Luis Goncalves.

Herts Hawks	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
John Oliver W	5.00	7	2	2	6	0
Louis Hare	4.00	6	5	4	2	2
Northampton
Marius L	8.00	10	12	6	6	12

HBP: by Marius (Carlos Casal). . . WP: Louis Hare, Marius(5). PB: Tim Tamakucho. T: 3:00. A: 60.

 

 

Posted on behalf of Herts baseball Newswire reporter, Kal Dimitrov 

The first week of the Herts Spring League could not have gotten to a more auspicious start – the expected showers and cloudy skies never materialized, and the whole day was played under sunny skies, with the temperature almost balmy at 15o C.

That was as far as luck went for the Herts Hawks.  The squad was depleted due to illness and call ups to the Falcons. The Hawks were able to get sufficient number of players thanks to the kind assistance of the Herts Raptors. This, however, was not a problem.  Calamity struck in the 1st inning, when starter Humberto Goncalves had to come off the mound with what some medical experts diagnosed as a pulled rib muscle, while others determined to be cramp in the pectoral area.

This required a hasty reshuffle in the field, as well as having to bring in Darrin Ward to pitch cold (which was not helped by his catcher calling for a number of weird pitches, such as sliders, screwballs and changeups after he had barely thrown 8 pitches to warm up).  The fallout was the Bracknell Blazers team taking a 5 to 0 lead at the bottom of the 1st.

The Hawks rallied, and were able to keep the score at a respectable margin, finally loosing 8 to 5 to a Bracknell team that contained a number of top class players, as well as some promising rookies of all genders (hats off to the Blazers).  Solid pitching by Darrin and some good hitting by Tim Elkins, Humberto Goncalves and Nick Russell kept hopes alive.

At the top of the 5th, Herts Hawks hopes for a comeback were revitalized, when, with the score 8 to 1, Darrin Ward hit a massive bases clearing double that made the score 8 to 4. Darrin was undoubtedly the man of the match for Hawks, with a total of 4 RBI’s and 10 stikeouts. This performance was complemented by the always stylish fielding and batting of young Luis Goncalves, as well as by the gritty determination of the rest of the team.

Bracknell, on this showing, will be tough opponents for any of the teams in the HSL 2 Bracket. In a post-match interview they expressed the view that they were happy with being able to execute their game-plan and give a lot of their players some game-time.

 

Herts Hawks at Bracknell Blazers
Score By Innings	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Herts Hawks	0	1	0	0	3	0	1	5	5	1
Bracknell Blazers	5	1	0	2	0	0	0	8	9	1

 

Bracknell Blazers 8, Herts Hawks 5
Bracknell Blazers					Herts Hawks
	ab	r	h	bi		ab	r	h	bi
Player 1 p	3	3	2	0	Nick Russell lf	4	1	1	0
Player 2 c	3	1	0	0	Tim Elkins 2b	3	2	1	0
Player 3 1b	4	0	2	4	Humberto Goncalves p-3b	3	1	1	0
Player 4 2b	3	1	0	0	(b1) Jake Kikel 1b	0	0	0	0
Player 5 3b	3	1	2	1	Darrin Ward 3b-p	4	0	2	4
Player 6 ss	2	1	1	0	Kal Dimitrov c	3	0	0	0
Player 7 lf	3	0	1	1	Jonathon Lewys cf	1	1	0	0
Player 8 cf	2	1	1	1	(t6) Ilya Dimitrov cf	0	0	0	0
Player 9 rf	3	0	0	0	Mark Hoffman 1b-3b	2	0	0	0
					Luis Goncalves ss	2	0	0	0
					Hunter Devine rf	3	0	0	0
TEAM TOTALS	26	8	9	7	TEAM TOTALS	25	5	5	4

 

E: Player 2, Humberto Goncalves. LOB: Herts Hawks 5, Bracknell Blazers 6. 2B: Player 1, Player 7, Player 8, Darrin Ward(2), Tim Elkins. SB: Player 5(3), Player 4, Player 1, Player 6, Player 2, Jonathon Lewys(2), Nick Russell, Luis Goncalves, Mark Hoffman.

 

Bracknell Blazers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Player 1 W	7.00	5	5	4	5	10
Herts Hawks
Darrin Ward	5.67	8	6	4	4	10
Humberto Goncalves L	0.33	1	2	2	1	0

 

HBP: by Player 1 (Luis Goncalves). . . . . . PB: Player 2(2), Kal Dimitrov(3). T: 2:55. A: 90.