Category: Adult Leagues

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Falcons off the DL. Could fans be placing bets on NBL games soon?

British Baseball has been paralysed by what seems to be endless waves of rain which has drenched the British Isles over the last two weeks. The prolonged period of rain started as soon as the authorities introduced a hose-pipe ban. Many of this weekend’s league games have already been rained out.

There is no decision yet about the biggest game of the season so far for the Herts Falcons (5-1). They are scheduled to travel to Finsbury Park to face the London Mets (3-1) this Sunday. The team from the capital is seen as one of the favourites in the National Baseball League (NBL). A win for Herts could give them some breathing space at the top of the standings. A sweep for London and they will overtake Herts.

  

On the eve of this massive game, the Herts Falcons have had some good news with confirmation that 2011 MVP, Mahendra Prasad, has been added to the roster after spending the last four weeks on the DL with a knee injury. Another player who is working his way back to recover from injury is catcher Dave Westfallen. He missed the whole of the 2011 season with a persistent shoulder injury. Since the end of last season Westfallen has had fantastic news with the birth of his son and it also looks like his shoulder is recovering well. He is targeting the end of May to return to full fitness and may start with a few games with the Herts Hawks in the AA League before considering a return to the Falcons roster.

Falcons outfielder Jamie Munn has also had to miss the start of the season with an elbow problem, but Falcons Manager, Lee Manning, is hoping that Munn will be back to full fitness in the next few weeks.

With the positive news of players coming off the DL and the club’s new signings making their debuts this month, the Falcons will soon be back to full strength and fans of the club will have the opportunity to see the team firing on all cylinders. But at the moment all eyes are on the skies above.

Fans of the NBL will be interested to know that the league scores now appear on a sports website where various betting companies offer odds for sports fans to place their bets. The fields which are intended to show the betting odds for upcoming NBL games are currently blank but it would be interesting to see whether betting companies start to cover the NBL as part of their wide range of betting markets.

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Bases loaded for 9th inning comeback but Eagles fail to pull trigger

You are not going anywhere - Glen Downer holding a Mavericks runner at first base

British Baseball A-League

Guildord Mavericks 22

Herts Eagles 19

report by Duncan Hoyle

Guildford Mavericks held off a late surge from Herts Eagles to record their second successive win, in a competitively played game at Grovehill Ballpark. 

The Eagles got off to a dreadful start, due to a combination of aggressive baserunning, good hitting from Guildford and some poor fielding to find themselves 7-0 down after the 1st inning. However starting pitcher Theo Scheepers began to find his range, and the Eagles offence started to get some hits to make the score 14 – 5 after 4 innings. 

With the possibility of the Eagles falling foul to the mercy rule, manager Duncan Hoyle made some changes at the end of the 4th, bringing in Zack Longboy as relief pitcher, experienced first base man Glen Downer and Ben Marques, who replaced the injured catcher Oz Kemal. 

Longboy settled in quick and went on to pitch until the end of the game, only conceding 1 run in the 6th and shutting out the Guildford offence in the 7th to allow the Eagles to get back into the game. Strong hitting from Joseph Osborne-Brade, Ben Marques and Zack Longboy brought the Eagles within touching distance. 

Dave Ames dodging an inside pitch on Sunday against Guildford

With the Eagles now having comfortably avoided the mercy rule, the game progressed into the 9th inning, Guildford had added a few more runs to lead 22 – 17. With the Eagles needing 5 to tie and take the match into an extra inning, Marques and Longboy both scored to bring the Eagles within 3. Theo Scheepers looked to have saved the game for the Eagles when he smashed a shot to deep centerfield, however the centerfielder made an excellent catch to keep the runners on base. The Guildford pitcher who had pitched the whole game must have been feeling the pressure, but he kept his cool as it came down to Tak Ashida to try to hit the walk off grand slam, but in giving it his all he could only manager to sky the ball to the third baseman who made the catch and secure the win for Guilford. 

The Eagles travel to the magnificent Pavilion Field in Brighton for their first away game of the season to face Hove Tuesday on Sunday, 29 April (first pitch 12:00).

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Depleted Hawks squad runs out of pitchers in late innings at Croydon

Starting pitcher Liam Green allowed only 2 earned runs and struck out 6 Pirates over 4 innings

The Herts Hawks went into their second game of the season with 14 regular players missing. Despite a valiant effort from the team, the Croydon Pirates picked up the win to go top of the AA League.

Inning
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
R
H
E
Herts
0
3
2
0
2
2
0
9
7
10
Croydon
1
5
0
0
2
6
5
19
8
2

Among the 14 missing Hawks members were the two co-managers, Andy Cornish and Greg Bochan, and so Falcons player and Herts Under-17 Team Manager, Cris Hiche, was in charge and had the difficult task of assembling a team. There were seven changes in the Hawks starting lineup compared to the nine players who started against the Richmond Dragons on Opening Day last week. Only Tim Elkins, Jon lewys and Ilya Dimitrov were part of the Hawks roster. The remaining squad featured players from across the whole Herts organisation, from U17 players Liam and Lewis Green, to Falcons’ Lee Manning, but the majority were members of the Herts Raptors whose A-League game versus the RedBacks was postponed.

Despite this the boys from Hertfordshire managed to get back in the game after trailing 6-3 at the end of the second inning. Hits from Liam Green (2-4 SB), John Kjorstad (1-3), Seth Lipstock (1-2 2BB 2SB), Amit Odedra (1-3 SB), and Lee Manning (1-3) helped the Hawks to stay in touch. They scored two runs in the top of sixth to take a 9-8 lead, but their depleted pitching staff was starting to get tired.

Croydon took full advantage scoring 11 runs in the next two innings to clinch a 19-9 victory and maintain their 100% record in the league this season.

Stand-in manager Cris Hiche felt that “both teams played well which resulted in a close game, which may not be obvious from the final score”. He added “it came down to which rotation was going to get tired first. Croydon’s pitcher was tired at the end but was able to close us down. On the other hand, our pitcher got tired and left some balls up in the strike zone and they were able to capitalize on it with some timely hits. Credit to Croydon, but we will be looking to get a victory next time we face them”.

The Hawks will hope to bounce back next Sunday, 29 April, at home against the Essex RedBacks.

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Raptors pick up a win without throwing a pitch

British Baseball A League

Essex RedBacks 0 Herts Raptors 9 (forfeit win)

The Herts Raptors’ opening league game of 2012 at home against the Essex RedBacks was postponed at the request of the Essex RedBacks. The game was scheduled for 1pm on Sunday, 22 April, however 24 hours before that the Raptors received a request from the RedBacks to postpone the game. The game will be recorded as a forfeit win for the Raptors but the Raptors would have preferred to earn the win on the field of play.

Next up for the Herts Raptors is another home game on Sunday, 29 April. This time they will welcome the Old Timers who have always been a tough nut to crack.

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Southampton end Falcons unbeaten run

Dave Tretheway's bat is hotting up, with a double, triple and driving in 3 runs in Southampton. (photos by British Baseball Magazine more available on their website. Click image to view.)

The Southampton Mustangs brought an end to the Falcons 4-game winning streak, but that setback was only temporary as the team from Herts quickly recovered to win the second game of the double-header.

Before today’s third round of NBL games the Herts Falcons were the only unbeaten team in Britain’s top league, however the Mustangs have proven to very difficult to beat over the last two years. Jordan Farkas started on the mound for Herts and he had another good outing allowing only 1 earned run, 4 hits and 2 walks over 6 innings which would usually be sufficient for a win, all else being equal. However, not all else was equal. The Herts defence had a particularly bad game committing 11 errors allowing 6 unearned runs to score.

The team looked to repair the damage offensively late in the game scoring 4 runs in the last 3 innings, including doubles from Cris Hiche, Liam Green, Dave Tretheway (2RBI) and Ryan Bird (2 RBI) who made his debut in a Herts jersey. That late rally wasn’t enough and the Falcons went down 7-5. Alberto Rodriguez picked up the win for the Mustangs.

Mike Osborn started on the mound in game two looking to make it 3 wins in 3 games on the mound this season. He pitched a complete game allowing only 2 earned runs on 8 hits and 1 walk. The Falcons defence had regained its composure after the nightmare in the first game. The South African duo of Dave Tretheway (3B RBI) and Ryan Bird (2B and 2 RBI) once again delivered big extra-base hits for the team. Jordan Farkas and Kimiyoshi Saionji also contributed with the bats driving in 3 ore runs. The 3 runs scored in the top of the final inning gave the team a little extra insurance for Mike Osborn to complete the game and confirm a 7-3 win for the Falcons.

Herts Falcons Manager, Lee Manning, felt that the results of both games were fair. “Southampton deserved to win the first game. We deserved to win the second. The wind played a big part causing major problems throughout the game. We made far too many errors in game one. We came back well in the second game and we now have to turn our attention to the next games against the London Mets” said Manning.

The team remains top of the NBL standings. However, they are now neck-and-neck with the reigning Champions, the Harlow Nationals, who swept the Essex Arrows and now have 5 wins and 1 loss, same as the team from Hertfordshire.

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Eagles and Hawks win on Opening Day

GOETZ GOES THE DISTANCE AS HAWKS BEAT DRAGONS

Nic Goetz - dominant on Opening Day versus RichmondHerts Hawks made the best possible start of the season with a convincing win against the Richmond Dragons. They found themselves trailing 4-3 going into the bottom of the fourth inning, but they found an extra gear after that.

Starting pitcher Nic Goetz did not allow any more runs putting up zeros on the scoreboard in the remaining 5 innings. He pitched a complete game allowing only 5 hits and struck out 14 Richmond batters. Offensively the Hawks did not have their best day and only Jon Lewys and Kal Dimitrov had multiple hits in the game, but some very aggressive base running meant that once players got on base they were quickly advancing into scoring positions and crossing home plate. Last year Ilya Dimitrov was the Hawks Stolen Base king with 37 steals. Paul Auchterlounie and Nick Russell are already looking to smash that record after taking 4 stolen bases each.

Click to view box scores and play-by-play

Next Sunday, 22 April the Hawks travel South to play against the Croydon Pirates III.

EAGLES MAKE A WINNING RETURN TO THE LEAGUE

Theo Scheepers is expected to play an important role in 2012 as a member of the Eagle spitching rotation

Herts Eagles opened up the 2012 season with a convincing win over the Richmond Dukes. The Eagles’ last game was in September 2010 in the Semi-Final of the AAA National Championships. After an absence last year, the team is back in the A-League this season.

With so many new players featured in the Eagles roster Manager Duncan Hoyle will have the difficult task of building a team from scratch and judging by their performance on Opening Day, they are on the right track already.

Solid defensive play and tight pitching from debutant Reagan Wood and Theo Scheepers restricted the Dukes to just 6 runs. Wood has played for Herts in previous seasons but only in the end-of-season Hunlock Series. It looks like this season he is in for the full season which is good news for Herts.

Offensively Geoff Thomas led the way with 5 runs scored, followed by Senna Ashida and Reagan Wood with 4 runs each. Reagan Wood also starred with 4 RBI and 3 hits, one of which nearly went for a home run, but agonisingly hit the top half of the fence in left field.

The final score was 28-6 and it could have been even more one-sided but the game was called before completion at the request of the Dukes. The Herts Eagles play at home again next Sunday as they welcome the Guildford Mavericks II.

Apart from the positive news on the field of play, there was news coming out of the Eagles clubhouse as well. Manager Duncan Hoyle confirmed that David Ames and Geoff Thomas have been appointed as joint assistant managers of the Eagles for this season.

RAPTORS

The Herts Raptors and London Marauders were the only two teams in the A-League who were not involved on Opening Day. They took the opportunity to have one final Spring Training game before the start of their 2012 campaign next Sunday. The Raptors dominated the game from the start and although this win means nothing in terms of the League standings, this is a good confidence boost for the Raptors and raises expectations. Could 2012 prove to be the year when a Herts team reaches the A-League postseason for the first time? The show begins for them next Sunday at Grovehill Ballpark against the Essex RedBacks III who impressed in the Herts Spring League.

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Falcons continue unbeaten run to extend lead at the top of the NBL

Jake Michels was on fire on Easter Sunday. (photos by British Baseball Magazine more available on their website. Click image to view.)

When the schedule was first announced, coach Lee Manning had highlighted the 2nd week matchup against the Essex Arrows. It would be the first time that Herts would face the former Falcon great Darrin Ward. Ward had been an integral part of the Falcons roster over the past few seasons and led them in almost every offensive and pitching category in 2011.

Darrin Ward’s first start against his old team would be short lived as the Herts Falcons exploded for 8 runs in the first three innings. Ward would be relieved by former Falcon prospect Mario Escobedo who gave up another 7 runs. The top of the Falcons order gave Essex trouble all afternoon. Jake Michels had 2 triples, a double 4 runs and 5 RBI on the day. Hitting behind Jake was heavy hitting Dave Trethway who seemed to also find his swing as he had 2 doubles, 1 triple and 6 RBI.

The Chilean speedster Chris Hiche sparked the Falcons offence with 4 runs and 5 stolen bases. Coach Lee Manning was very pleased to see his new additions dominate at the plate on Easter Sunday. Game one starter Jordan Farkas picked up his 2nd win of the season as the Falcons disposed of the Arrows in a 15-7 rout.

Essex came out in game two with something to prove and put up four quick runs off of Michael Osborn who was battling a stomach virus all day. The first inning would be the last time that Essex would score.

The resilient Falcons quickly responded to score in the second, third and fourth inning. After the rough first inning, Osborn settled in and would only allow one more hit the rest of the way as he earned his second win on the hill.

Mike Osborn picked up his second win of the season. (photos by British Baseball Magazine more available on their website. Click image to view.)

In the first two weeks of the season the Falcons have showed a lot of heart; they now have two come from behind victories. In game two the Falcons left side of the infield flashed the leather, Mike Cattermole and Jake Michels made several stellar defensive plays to keep the Arrows at bay. Lee Manning and Liam Green shared the catching duties and provided strong backstops for the pitchers.

After the games coach Manning said, “We felt we deserved the wins today. The team played good baseball and we are very pleased with the start we have made this season. We are still missing several players, some on the DL, but the roster we put together this winter will gradually be coming together over the next few weeks and hopefully we will be at full strength very soon. Great start but we have to keep our feet on the ground and focus on our next game which will be a difficult one at Southampton next Sunday“

by AspiDimitrov

Cambridge and Guildford win HSL Championships

Herts Hawks starter Nic Goetz allowed only 1 run in a very effective complete game against HSL AAA Champions, Cambridge Royals

The Cambridge Royals won the HSL AAA Championship while the Guildford Mavericks are the HSL AA Champions as spring training ended for minor league teams and they prepare for the show to begin next weekend.

HSL – AAA

Sunday’s HSL schedule was revised slightly due to the London Mets (U17) absence. The key clash of the day was the game between the two unbeaten teams Cambridge Royals and Essex RedBacks. Four pitches into the game and the RedBacks starting pitcher pulled a groin muscle. He suffered the same injury in the previous weekend of the HSL so this is a major blow for the Redbacks ahead of the new season. The Royals took advantage and won the game 10-2. They did lose their second game of the day against the Herts Hawks 13-1. Hawks pitcher Nic Goetz picking up the win with a strong performance in that game. Despite the loss the Royals knew that they had clinched the HSL AAA title regardless of the score in the other games involving the RedBacks and MK Bucks as they had beaten both teams and in the event of a tie in the standings the Royals would be the winners on their head-to-head record.

The RedBacks won their game against MK Bucks in what turned out to be a game to determine the runner-up of the HSL AAA. Rich Chesterton was the winning pitcher for the team from Essex.

The Sidewinders were winless so far this Spring and despite having a shortage of players on the day they did have enough quality to win both their games to climb up two places in the table. They ended the day with an exciting 6-5 win against the MK Bucks. Tadaki Junior was the starting pitcher picking up the win while Tadaki Senior picked up the save restraining a last-inning rally by the Bucks.

HSL – AA

On Saturday the Guildford Mavericks clashed with the Essex RedBacks II in the HSL AA Final. Both teams stayed unbeaten in the group stage but it was Guildford who came out on top 13-5. In the 3rd and 4th Place game the Kent Mariners dominated against the Herts Raptors winning convincingly 28-10. The second team from Guildford also had a good day beating the London Marauders 13-8. The GB cadets secured 7th place finish with a big win against the Herts Eagles who were missing some key players like starting pitcher Theo Scheepers, Oz Kemal, Will Belbin, among others.

THE SHOW BEGINS

This year’s HSL has proven to be a big success. A record 20 teams took part and with support from very high quality umpires and great venues in Herts and Guildford this felt more like the postseason National Baseball Championships than Spring Training.

Herts Baseball Club President, Aspi Dimitrov said: “We have had fantastic feedback from participating teams, players, coaches and fans” and he added that “the HSL has become a very enjoyable and productive competition in the British Baseball calendar and the best way to prepare for the start of a new season.”

With Spring Training completed all eyes will now turn towards next Sunday’s opening day games of the 2012 season with NBL, AAA, AA and A League teams all in action across the country.

Click to view 2012 HSL Scoreboard

Click to view 2012 HSL Final Standings

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Sights of 2012 Opening Day

Over the last few weeks visitors of hertsbaseball.com have been enjoying the wonderful images of baseball games at Grovehill Ballpark. Many of them have been courtesy of photographer Jim Garnett. 

Garnett has been a professional photographer since 1985 with the  Toronto Sun (1985 – 2010) covering the Toronto Blue Jays at their SkyDome ballpark.  In that time he received five ‘News Photograph of the Year’ awards. Covered the war in the former Yugoslavia for the Toronto Sun during 1995. Pictures published in ‘Time’ magazine, Canadian Business, Canadian Yachting, Macleans magazine and many other newspapers, magazines and web sites. He has also freelanced for the Sun [London], the Daily Express, the Daily Mail, the Daily Mirror and the Daily Telegraph. Garnett has also worked as a professional television cameraman for CBC, CTV, Global Television and Entertainment Tonight. He shot the Canadian ‘Little League’ 2010 Championship series in Ancaster, Ontario for CTV Sports British Columbia.

This year Garnett started a project covering British Baseball and the National Baseball League in particular.  Apart from appearing in various regional and national newspapers, his images will appear regularly in the British Baseball Magazine – a weekly online blog-based photo-oriented publication focusing on the British Baseball Federation’s National Baseball League during the regular season.

Below you will see some of the images from the 2012 NBL Opening Game between the Herts Falcons and the Bracknell Blazers. Many more photos from the day are available here.