Our club is very sad to hear the news that former Herts Falcons player, Dennis Grogan, has passed away.
He spent only one season with Herts but it didn’t take him long to become an integral member of the club and he had the respect of everyone. He contributed on and off the field but what we will miss most is his friendship and company.
The thoughts of everyone at Herts Baseball Club are with his family.
The Most Valuable Players (MVP) of the seven Herts adult league teams have been announced. The players of each team voted to determine their team’s MVP so the results reflect who the players consider to have been the most influential members this year.
The 2023 Herts Falcons MVP is player-manager, Cris Hiche. With a batting average of .397, slugging average of .638 and 3 home runs, Hiche was a consistent contributor to the team’s offence. Defensively, he produced a series of web gems including a Play of the Year candidate in the game away at the Capitals which was streamed live (see video above).
For a second consecutive year, the Herts Cardinals chose Tyler Cote as the team’s Most Valuable Player. He was the team’s “go-to” pitcher including in the Playoff Semi-Final. He had the team’s best ERA (.366) and led the pitching staff in strikeouts (36) and wins (3) tied with three other pitchers. Offensively, he led in RBIs (21), stolen bases (18) and had the third best batting average (.400).
Harry McMenamin is the Herts Hawks MVP. This was his third season playing in the BBF senior leagues and he has been voted as the Hawks MVP in each of these three seasons. His batting average was .552, slugging average was .845 which is almost identical to his numbers last year, despite the fact that his team is playing in a higher league tier this season. His contribution was in all aspects of the game, as a pitcher, with the glove in the infield and with his speed, stealing 27 bases.
The Herts Ducks MVP is Taysir Barakat. His teammates recognised his contribution on and off the field in a diffiuclt first season for the Ducks in the Double-A League when the team needed a lot of lifting. He had a batting average of .349, led in stolen bases (14) and his team relied on his pitching with the most innnings pitched (24).
Zak Beller won the MVP vote among the Herts Ravens. He was a key player in a very successful season for the team going all the way to the Playoff semi-final. He led the team in home runs (4) and RBIs (40), was third in batting average (.686) and stolen bases (38). We should mention that pitcher and infielder Nic Goetz was a close second in the MVP vote. He had another exceptional season with an ERA of 2.45, 8 wins , no losses and 61 strikeouts. He also led the team with a .778 batting average.
Among the seven Herts senior league teams, the Herts Raptors recorded the biggest improvement in their winning average from .038 in 2022 to .348 this season. The players determined that pitcher Lee Dunn played a vital part in this and voted him as the Raptors 2023 MVP. He had the best ERA and the lowest opponent batting average. He also led the team with 3 home runs. This is only his first season with the club so we look forard to seeing what 2024 will bring for him and the Raptors.
The Herts Eagles MVP is George Llewelyn Thomas. He may not have been at the top of the offensive and defensive categories, but the fact that his teammates voted for him speaks volumes about the role he played in the team, bringing everyone together and leading by example. The team made enormous progress over the course of the season and they are already preparing for 2024.
Apart from being 2023 Ravens MVP, Zak Beller also won the Play of the Year with his 3 home runs in a game. Close behind him in the vote were Lee Dunn for his 2-home-run-game and Ben Sporleder for his fearless catch in centerfield smashing into the outfield wall.
There was a tie in the Nob-Out Award category between Tyler Cote and Lewis Auchterlounie for the most spectacular mishap of the season. Tyler Cote caused a delay in the start of the game away at Bristol when he lost his wedding rind requiring an urgent search party where both the home and away players had to comb the field on their knees. The ring was found successfully.
Lewis Auchterlounie shares the Nob-Out Award with Tyler Cote. He was one of the fans who came down to watch the Herts Falcons NBL game and decided to enter the 200m fan race during the 5th inning stretch. The prize for the winner was a hot dog so there was a lot on the line. One furlong into the race Lewis went down after pulling a hamstring.
With 2023 award-winners confirmed, attention is turning to preparations for the 2024 season. What will the new year bring? How many Herts teams will we see and which leagues will they play in? Which players will be challenging to move up the leagues and will a Herts team bring a national championship trophy home?
The Black Barracudas finished top during the league stage of the Hunlock Series and went into the Postseason as the favourites so it was no surprise when they beat the Big Red Machine in the Final late on Sunday evening as the sun was going down on the final game day of the 2023 season.
The Postseason started with a do or die encounter between the Cheese Cutters and the Wizards who finished fourth and fifth, respectively. It proved to be an epic best-of-7 series which went the distance and the Wizards won by 4 games to 3. They had to face the third-placed Buzzards next. Wizards eventually ran out of pitching arms and, despite putting up a good fight, lost the series.
The second seeded Big Red Machine upset the odds with a 3-1 series win against the Barracudas after another good outing on the mound for Erik Gustafson. That secured a place in the final for them while the Barracudas had to face the Buzzards in a best-of-3 semi-final series.
The Barracudas won that series 2.5-0.5 to book their place in the Final where they met the Red Machine for a second time of the day which gave them a chance to redeem themselves after losing to them earlier in the day.
Despite a strong performance by the Big Red Machine, which included a Play of the Year-nominated diving catch by Andy Cornish, the Barracudas won the Championship Series 3-1.
This year’s Hunlock Series saw around 100 players play 63 one-inning games. Many of the players were new to Herts and the club hopes to see them wearing the Herts jersey when the 2024 British baseball season commences.
These were the final games of the 2023 baseball season. The players now take a break over the winter but Spring Training is not too far away and planning for the 2024 season has already began.
If you are not a member of the club yet, the best way to keep up-to-date is to be added to the club’s mailing list. Contact us for more details about joining the club for 2024 or to subscribe to the mailing list.
The 16-game Hunlock Series regular season was completed on Sunday. The Barracudas and the Big Red Machine were neck-and-neck going into the final game. The Barracudas won it to leave the two teams tied with identical win-loss record in first place but that was enough to clinch first place on the tie-break rule as that win gave them a superior head-to-head record.
The top two teams in the standings will have a considerable advantage in the playoffs.
The defending champions Blue Buzzards finished third, two and a half games back on the leaders, but they should not be written off.
The Cheese Cutters and the Wizards find themselves in deep trouble occupying fourth and fifth place respectively. The unforgiving postseason format means that they will have to win four series in a row and they will have no room for error.
The two teams will get the Playoffs underway when they meet each other on Sunday morning. First pitch is at 9:30am. The loser will be eliminated. The winner would then meet the third placed Buzzards. The loser of that series will be eliminated. The winner would then come up against the loser of the Barracudas versus Big Red Machine series. The winners of these two series will meet in the final.
Some of the series are best-of-7 format, others are best-of-5 or best-of-3 so it will be a marathon day for the lower seeded teams if the series go the distance.
It would take something special for the Cheese Cutters and the Wizards to reach the final, but it is not impossible. Paradoxically, the Wizards are bottom of the league standings but they have the best offence in the league. They have driven in 30 runs over the 16 games. However, their defence has been struggling and is the worst in the league. The Cheese Cutters have the worst run difference with minus 17. The scene is set perfectly for one of these two teams to cause a major upset.
The teams will receive a boost if they win their first two Playoff series as the 9-out daily limit on their pitchers will be reset for their third series of the day.
View Hunlock Series Postseason schedule
We have had glorious weather so far and Sunday is forecast to be another dry day so fans should get set for what could be a dramatic day of baseball to end the 2023 baseball season.
The game schedule for the 2023 Hunlock Series has been published and it has been confirmed that the “9th Inning” game format is in force which means that all games will be decided over a single inning only. This format was first adopted in the 2017 Hunlock Series. It recreates the tension and drama of the ninth inning.
The Green Cheese Cutters open the competition with a 4-game series against the Black Barracudas at 09:40am at Basing Hill Ballpark, followed by four more of these 4-game series with the day ending at around 5:30pm.
There will be an opening ceremony at 12:30pm for the annual group photo of all the teams. This event will also see a ceremony to officially mark the opening of Basing Hill Ballpark after the completion of Phase 2 in June. Five local Councillors will throw out the ceremonial first pitch as the guests of honour.
The following regulations will apply to the “9th Inning” format.
• The batting order of each team remains unchanged for the duration of the day unless a substitution is made.
• A substituted player cannot re-enter the same game, however that player can re-enter a subsequent game.
• The batter who was next to bat upon completion of the previous game will be the first batter in the next game with the rest of the batting lineup coming up to bat in order.
What is also noticeable from the schedule is that the home team alternates over the course of the 4-game series which implies that the fielding team in the bottom of the inning will remain in the field in the top of the inning of the subsequent game. This scheduling approach was adopted in previous years and it sped-up the games enormously as that halved the number of times teams go in and out of the field. There even was no need for warm-up pitches as the pitchers were ready. The downside is that a pitcher will need to stay on the mound for 6 outs without a break as opposed to the usual 3 outs, which could mean twice as many pitches thrown in an inning. This is where the defence can really help pitchers, by minimising errors and not adding to the pitcher’s pitch count.
The first two weeks of the Series will see a league format where each team will play a total of 16 games, 4 games against each of their opponents.
The postseason playoff will be played on 15 October. Those games will also adopt the one-inning game format. See playoff tournament tree above.
The other rules which differ from what teams are used to in the BBF leagues are:
• Pitching Restrictions. A player can appear as a pitcher in one, two or more games per day, but no player shall accumulate more than 3 innings (9 outs) as a pitcher over the course of the day. It is the responsibility of the opposing team to inform the umpire when a pitcher reaches the limit. Managers must inform opponents of the number of innings pitched by each of their pitchers during the day prior to the start of each game.
• No Mercy Rule will be in force.
• If the game is tied after completion of the final inning, each team is awarded half a win and half a loss in the standings.
The 2023 Hunlock Series Draft took place on Friday night. See more details here.
If you have not signed up to play in the Hunlock Series, it is not too late. Contact Herts Baseball Club for details on how to sign up.
The 2023 Hunlock Series Draft was completed on Friday night. The managers of the teams had a plethora of talent to choose from with 82 players drafted over 17 rounds.
It was no surprise that four of the five first round picks were pitchers.
On a toss of a coin, the Yellow Wizards had the first pick. Manager, Osvaldo Badia, selected Sean Bennett (pictured above) – a member of the Triple-A League Semi-Finalist, Herts Cardinals.
The Black Barracudas chose pitcher and infielder Josh Badenhorst with their first pick. He has been wearing the MK Bucks jersey this season and has previously played for the various Herts youth teams.
The Big Red Machine had the next pick. They selected Herts Cardinals player-manager Brian Dearing whose primary positions are starting pitcher and shortstop.
The defending Hunlock Series champions, Blue Buzzards, were next and they picked Herts Falcons first baseman and outfielder, Mike Cresswell.
Finally, Green Cheese Cutters manager, Callum Ferrier, selected Testuro Shinkawa with his first pick.
FREE AGENTS AND TRADES
The full team rosters determined at last night’s draft are shown here.
New players are sill regisering and they will be added to the teams as free agents.
New players aged 14 or above, regardless of whether they are members of Herts or another club or completely new to baseball, can be added to the teams at any point. To be added to the teams or for more details contact Herts Baseball Club.
The Series commence on Sunday, 1 October. The first games start at 09:40am at Basing Hill Ballpark in north west London. Admission is free. For complete Series schedule click here.
We are counting down to the 2023 Hunlock Series Live Draft which will take place this Friday, 22 September at 8:00pm.
For those who are new to the Hunlock Series, in the days leading up to the Draft, the 100+ Herts players (aged 14 and over) and newly registered players mark their availability for the three weeks of the Hunlock Series. The team managers then take turns picking players one by one over the twenty or so rounds of the Draft. It will be interesting to see which players will be picked in the first round and who will be the very first pick. In previous years, that honour has gone primarily to Conner Brown.
Players and fans can follow the Draft picks here as they happen. Participants will also be able to interact and chat about the Draft in WhatsApp groups as the managers make their picks.
Five teams go into this year’s competition. The managerial appointments have just been announced.
Danny Preston led the Blue Buzzards to the Hunlock Series championship last year and he is back to defend the title this year.
Fans will see some new faces in the Hunlock Series this year who have joined the club in the last few weeks, so there will be an element of surprise in Friday’s Draft. Some of them may be new to Herts fans but they are not new to the game. The Hunlock Series could give us a glimpse at some of the new players who will be wearing the Herts uniform in 2024.
Historically the Herts adult league team managers have used the Hunlock Series games to evaluate current and new players in preparation for the new season, to populate their rosters and positions and to decide which leagues the Herts teams should go into in 2024.
All Hunlock Series players will be drafted into teams. To be eligible for the Draft players will need to update their availability for all the Hunlock Series dates in the online Clubhouse by 7pm on Friday, 22 September. If you miss the deadline or the first one or two weeks of games, don’t worry. New players will still be eligible to play but will have to be assigned to teams as free agents after the Draft.
If you already have a Clubhouse account you can update availability by logging on with your existing username and password. Click here to go to the Clubhouse.
If you do not have a Clubhouse account but wish to play in the Hunlock Series, please register here and select “Play Hunlock Series” in the membership category list. After registering you can log on and mark your availability.
To be eligible to play in the Hunlock Series, players must be 14 years of age or above on 31 December 2023.
2023 club members, including non-roster club members, do not have to pay an entry fee as the Hunlock Series is part of their membership package. If you don’t have a Hunlock Series team shirt, you can buy one before your first game. The price is £10. Many players already have Hunlock Series team shirts from previous years and, to keep costs down for players, an online group will be set up where they can exchange their shirt if they have been picked by a team wearing a different colour team shirt.
New players or players from other clubs can play by paying the £24 entry fee which includes a free Hunlock Series shirt of the team which has drafted them.
For more details about playing in the Hunlock Series, contact us.
The Herts Ravens (A) and Cardinals (AAA) fought to the last in playoff games which capped their excellent seasons. But ultimately they fell one step short of the finals they had been chasing. Both teams can be proud of their year, and of the games they played at its climax.
The Ravens had to navigate a wildcard game on Saturday, 9th September, after an unexpected BBF ruling removed their tied regular season game and replaced it with a loss. But when they faced the Cambridge Royals at home they overpowered them with an 18-1 win.
That meant a long road trip to Cardiff the next day to face the Merlins. That stacked the odds against them, and the absence of their star slugger Zak Beller and ace pitcher Nic Goetz — who took the win on Saturday – offered further challenges.
But Herts opened up strongly against the winners of the South West and Wales league. Sony Lama drove a hit to centre, stole a couple of bases, and came home on a passed ball. Greg Bochan drove in Eric Ferng and the visitors took a 2-0 lead.
Then when Cardiff’s leadoff man hit a fly ball to the outfield it ended in another big blow to Herts. It deflected off Lama’s glove as he chased into foul ground for the play, and opened a cut above his eye which required stitches at the local hospital. He has recovered well, but losing his arm and his bat from the lineup did not help the Ravens cause.
Andrew Slater’s deceptive curve kept the Merlins batters off balance and the first few innings were tight and low scoring. Norman Peng and Eddie Wang made good defensive plays.
After three, Cardiff had managed to edge ahead 3-2. But then they were able to surge ahead. Essentially, their batters figured out a solution before the Ravens were able to solve the Cardiff starter Eiki Ito, who issued 7 walks but also struck out 10.
After Cardiff jumped to an 8-2 lead, Herts’ defense dug deep to put a zero on the scoreboard. But in the end they could not hold off the home side. Oscar Landin and Jamie Cunningham continued the damage they had done all season and the Merlins won it 12-2 in six innings.
The Herts Cardinals also faced a long road trip, heading to Bournemouth to face the Bears. And they too started strong. They led 2-1 after four innings thanks to an Erik Gustafson RBI hit and a Will Davis home run. Tyler Cote was solid on the mound.
Bournemouth rallied in the bottom of the fifth to retake the lead, but the Cardinals bounced right back. Vytas Macenas cleared the loaded bases for 3 RBIs and the lead. The Bears had the final word, though, with two home runs helping them to a 9-5 lead which they would preserve to take the victory.
Cardinals manager Brian Dearing said it had been a fun and tough fight, with amazing efforts top to bottom from the team.
The playoff finals for the BBF’s A, AA and AAA leagues take place this Sunday at Farnham Park. Herts players can turn their attention to the post-season Hunlock Series which brings together all levels of the club in a fun tournament in October to wrap up the year.
Thanks to Iestyn Dallimore for the excellent photos of the Merlins-Ravens game. Google him and you will find many more!
Herts Baseball Club has learned the sad news that club member Dan Gipple passed away two weeks ago.
The Gipple family joined the club in 2013 when Dan’s son Joe was ten and started playing for the Herts Under-11 team. As Joe developed as a player through the baseball age groups, Dan joined the Herts youth baseball coaching staff working alongside Mike Wakelam, Max Trautman, Jeff Witter and other youth coaches.
In 2018 Joe was old enough to start playing in the adult baseball leagues and both Dan and Joe made their senior league debuts with the Herts Raptors. Parents playing baseball side-by-side with their children is a special feeling and Dan and Joe had that opportunity to play together.
With the opening of Basing Hill Ballpark, both of them went on to play for the Herts Eagles reuniting with many of the coaches and players from their youth baseball years.
Dan wore Herts jersey number 54.
He has been battling with health problems for some time now. The medical procedures must have been very difficult for him but he did share with club members that baseball gave him strength through those hard times and kept him going.
The thoughts of everyone at Herts Baseball Club are with Joe and the rest of the Gipple family.
The Opening Day of the 2023 Hunlock Series was the ideal opportunity for the large number of club members gathered to remember Dan.
The Triple-A League Playoff race was decided on the last day of the 28-game regular season as the Herts Cardinals overcame the Bristol Badgers to stay ahead of them in fourth place.
They jumped to an early 5-1 lead after a 2-run double by Tyler Cote and a 2-run single by Giorgio Ferroni who entered the game in the second inning substituting James Cavanagh who suffered a dislocated shoulder after a diving catch in centerfield.
The Badgers scored 2 runs to reduce the deficit to 5-3 but the home team pulled away with another 4 runs after hits from Andy Cornish, Giorgio Ferroni, Osvaldo Badia, Erik Gustafson and a 2-run single by Tyler Cote.
That took the game beyond Bristol and it finished with a final score of 10-5. Erik Gustafson was the winning pitcher while Naohiko Kumagai picked up the save.
Game One Box Scores: Herts Cardinals 10 Bristol Badgers 5
This win meant that the Cardinals had booked their place in the Playoffs as the Badgers could no longer overtake them.
They ended their regular season in style winning the second game of the day which means their record is 13-12 with a .520 win-loss average. Stephen Wong was the winning pitcher and Kumagai closed the game for his second save of the day.
Game Two Box Scores: Herts Cardinals 11 Bristol Badgers 7
The Herts Cardinals are now preparing for a trip to Bournemouth this Sunday to face the top seeded Bears. They are the favourites to win this semi-final, but the Cardinals have already shown that they are very capable of competing against the Bournemouth Bears having won 2 of the 4 games played between the two teams during the regular season.
Herts fans can follow the play-by-play updates live on the BBF website.
The winner will play in the final at Farnham Park on Sunday, 17 September against the winner of the other semi-final between the Richmond Knights and the London Metros.
The last time a team from Hertfordshire won the Triple-A League National Championship was in 2008 when the Herts Falcons beat the Oxford Kings 5-2 and won promotion to the National Baseball League.