Category: Raptors

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Cruel end to Raptors’ outstanding season

Theo Scheepers driving in Will Zucker to make the score 6-3 (photo by Rob Jones)

Single-A League Semi-Final, Farnham Park

Haverhill Blackjacks 10 Herts Raptors 6

Some of the Herts Raptors players were in tears on Saturday after a late Haverhill rally knocked them out in the semi-final. This was the first time that a Herts team had reached the semi-final stage of the Single-A League and the Raptors had one foot in the final with a 6-3 lead and just 3 innings left to play. Herts scouts were also monitoring developments in the other semi-final and the news filtering through was that the favourites, London Marauders, were about to get knocked out by the Richmond Dukes who had used their ace pitcher in the process, which meant he would not be able to pitch in the final. It seemed like all the pieces were falling into place to reward the Raptors with a trophy at the end of a season, which they put every last ounce of energy into. But the game of baseball can be very cruel sometimes.

The Raptors 15-men roster reported for duty bright and early on Saturday morning. Manager, Arnie Longboy, had the difficult job of deciding which 6 players will start on the bench and the unpleasant task of giving them the bad news. However, all of the players who were on the bench stayed professional and they did all the things which do not show up in the box scores but certainly contribute to the team’s performance. It was a privilege just to be part of the team and this was emphasised by the large number of players from the other Herts teams who had come to support the team.

The Raptors had waited for this day for more than a month and during that time they had planned and prepared meticulously. Herts fans outnumbered any of the other sets of supporters who had made the trip to Farnham Park in Slough, so they went into the game with optimism.

Arnie Longboy entrusted 16-year-old pitcher Will Zucker with the daunting task of starting on the mound with all the pressure of the occasion and elimination baseball. There was no margin for error and Zucker was outstanding. From the first to the 95th pitch of his outing, his sidearm delivery was effective against a powerful Haverhill lineup.

Raptors shut down the Blackjacks offence, but there was no respite at any time during this semi-final (photo by Rob Jones)

The Blackjacks took a 2-1 lead going into the bottom of the second inning. The Raptors responded with 3 runs in that frame to make it 4-2 which included a 1-run double by first-baseman, Jeff Witter. In the third, Will Zucker lined a 2-out triple into right field and Theo Scheepers drove him in to make the score 6-3.

Haverhill hits and several defensive mishaps turned the game on its head. 3 runs came in to score. We were going into the final inning with the game tied 6-6. Will Zucker had reached his 95-pitch limit which applies to players under the age of 17 and had to be substituted. Relief pitchers Brodie Caress and Theo Scheepers tried to halt Haverhill’s momentum, but were not able to. 4 runs came in to score in the top of the seventh. It was going to take something special from the Raptors to come back in the bottom of the final inning. They put 2 runners on base, but were not able to pull the trigger.

Credit must be given to the Blackjacks who started the game losing a player during warm-up followed by another two players during the course of the game through injury, but kept going to the end to reach the final in their first year of existence.

The Raptors camp will feel down for a considerable period of time. At a time when they should be proud of their outstanding achievement, the feeling of coming so close but missing out will haunt them all winter, however the pain they are feeling now will spur them on when they report for Spring Training in 2014.

by Rob Jones

Baseball gods, birthday gifts, baked goods

The first pitch was up around my shoulders. I left it, and it was called a strike. The second pitch was a little higher, but I swung at it anyway, and missed.

This being a training game between the playoff-bound Raptors and the cobbled-together Herts Rebels, I was still ribbing the umpire — and being ribbed by the catcher — when the third pitch came down. It was low in the zone and somehow I managed to stroke it imperiously towards the outfield. And thus began my 41st birthday present from the baseball gods.

The Herts club has had an amazing year, and still has the prospect of three teams winning post-season silverware. So there is a lot to talk about. But the advantage of having a personal quasi-blog is that I can still talk about my own fun on a baseball field.

My standing excuse remains that my own experience reflects that of many British baseball part-timers, and I am sticking to it. If the game is not about a collection of great personal moments creating a greater whole, then what is it?

And so, back to the story. As warm late summer sunshine bathed Grovehill I was taking part in a loose but nonetheless competitive training game for the Raptors. And I had just driven that 0-2 pitch over and past the centre fielder. I was running hard out of the box and straight to second base and as I approached I could see the ball was still at the base of the fence. So I kept going.

Heading for third I shouted for a clear sign about what to do and was met with a wheeling arm. Carry on. As the Rebels bench rose in encouragement, and the catcher began to set up to take the throw, I wrung the last out of my newly-aged legs to head for home. It wasn’t a classic Major League slide taking me through the plate and into a pop-up. It was a desperate slide to simply get a toe to the plate and grind to a halt.

But it was a success. And it was, unquestionably, an inside the park home run. Never in over a decade of baseball have I scored a home run. Elsewhere on this blog you will find references to the hits which have come closest. And there have been times when overthrows and blatant errors have allowed me to get all the way round in one go. But this was the real deal.

My sister characterises baseball as “Swing, miss. Swing, miss. Swing, miss. Sit down”. Wag that she is, she asked if I still had to sit down after scoring a home run. I replied that no, I had to lie down, as it was exhausting!

It had been six weeks since I played any baseball at all and the pace was hard to handle. After the first ten minutes or so of fielding drills at second base – not only taking my own grounders, but covering first and going to second for cut-off throws – I was thoroughly knackered. But somehow this turned into a day when everything went right.

At the plate, I hit two more singles, and didn’t make an out.  In the field, I tagged out two runners at second. Both were a credit more to the pickoff move of young Zack, and the arm of the Hawks catcher Hunter Devine. But they were fun outs to get.

As the day came to an end the remaining players split to make two seven-man teams so we could continue. One hit got through and sped away into our vacant outfield, but I sprinted after it, made a good throw to Adam, who made a great cut and relay and the batter — who was outrageously trying to follow my earlier example and score an inside-the-parker — was cut down at the plate. Result.

Finally, as the sun sank so low behind home plate that the batter and catcher became an anonymous silhouette, I made my final stellar contribution – as a relief pitcher.

My memory may be tinted by rose-coloured sunglasses, but the way I recall it – and how history will now mark it — is that I got the final two outs to save the win. (Yes OK so I walked in a run first, but that’s being picky)

It all ended with me fielding a sharp comebacker off Eagles slugger Adrian Smithers, despite barely being able to see the ball. A simple throw to first and it was over.

This had been my 41st birthday. And it had been a good one. There were home-made cakes, courtesy of my long suffering wife, for everyone involved. Quite literally, icing on the top of a fine day.

The year had once again thrown up many obstacles to prevent my regular appearance in a Herts uniform, and I’m not sure that I made it to a single training session at Grovehill. But there is something deeply satisfying about a storybook ending, and I will call this one of those. The sun shone. Everyone was relaxed and was just having fun. And doing some simple things right made it even more fun.

Will it be champagne-time this Saturday as the Herts Raptors try to win the Single-A League national championship

The next few weeks hold great promise for the club, with the Raptors the first to step to the plate. They have a great spirit and a lot of talent and they deserve success. The Falcons, having secured the NBL pennant, can now top that by going one better than last year and winning the playoffs.

I will be watching from the sidelines, but at all times I will be willing for those players to experience the exuberant feeling I know you can get from playing baseball.

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Herts Raptors chasing the Single-A National Championship this Saturday at Farnham Park

The British Baseball Federation has just announced the format and schedule of this Saturday’s Single-A League National Championship. Herts Baseball Club is represented by the Herts Raptors who reached the Semi-Final stage by finishing top of their division and are the second seed overall with 10 wins and 4 losses in the regular season.

A win for the Haverhill Blackjacks over the Guildford Mavericks in the quarter-final on Sunday has determined that the Blackjacks will be the Raptors’ opponent in the Semi-Final.

Haverhill had a record of 7 wins and 7 losses during the regular season. In their head-to-head meeting on 23 June the Raptors came out on top with a 31-12 win, so the team from Hertfordshire may have the psychological advantage but the form guide goes out of the window in the postseason as shown by the very closely fought quarter-final games last weekend.

Herts Raptors manager, Arnie Longboy, will have some difficult decisions to make when determining his starting lineup. One of them will be to select the team’s starting pitcher in this knockout game. Among the potential starters are Under-17 players Brodie Caress, Charlie Mayhew, Will Zucker and Zack Longboy, but the team also has several older pitchers such as Jeff Witter, Jim Arnott and Theo Scheepers.

Both semi-finals will be played at Farnham Park this Saturday, 7 September. The Herts Raptors vs Haverhill Blackjacks game will start at 11:00am. The winners will meet in the final on the same day with estimated start time of 3:00pm. The brand new baseball venue is expected to be packed with baseball fans as eight other teams are in action on the same day as part of the AAA and AA-League semi-finals.

 

by Ken Pike

September blues? Not this time.

 

Raptors celebrate making post season
The Herts Raptors celebrated a successful season despite losing their last game.

By Ken Pike

Well that’s it, another season said and done for the Raptors. Time to pack our backs, go home for a long off-season and chill ou….wait…what? Finals? Funny guy, pull the other one. Oh, you’re serious? Well I never! The erstwhile ‘Craptors’ have shed  the mantle of rubbishdom in exuberant style and made it to the post season. This is a team that three years ago struggled to get any wins and now they are through to Farnham Park! Not as a wildcard either, but as one of the top two seeds. Probably second, as the Marauders at the time of writing need 1 win from their last two. While Milton Keynes could give them a run for their money it would be a BIG upset were they to lose to the 2sox (and I mean no offense to Leicester who have played with heart and soul, but not the same level of success as the Marauders).

Either way that means a first round bye, home field advantage in the semi finals on September 7th. If they get to the finals they would also enjoy homefield advantage against any team except (possibly) the Marauders. Admittedly there were a couple of stumbles along the way. Mid season saw a run of two defeats to sister-team the Eagles (congrats to them for a very respectable four wins from the season) and pool rivals the MK Coyotes, while the end of the season saw them trip up again in the last two games against the Dukes and Tonbridge. But despite those blips they have also beaten each of the other pool leaders, and every second placed team bar the Dukes as well so they can go to Farnham confident of being capable of beating any team they face. Sadly they won’t have the air of impenetrability and momentum that they had mid-July though. That said, they should benefit from the return of their young pitchers Zac Longboy and Will Zucker whom they were deprived of for almost all of those four losses, and, subject-to-appeal the powerful bat of Glen Downer who could return from a long absence.

So who have been the standout performers that got the Raptors to this stage? First plaudits have to go to Arnie Longboy. The first Raptors coach to take the team to post season will put him in Herts history books, and his (usually) calm and considered leadership saw the team play with a competence and level-headedness that saw them come back from behind to win in style on several occasions. I believe it is his firm  insistence on base running discipline that has led the Raptors to being the most offensively dominant team in the league despite not having any real power hitters to speak of.

As for play, starting from the mound and going round, the afore mentioned Zac and Will have been leading lights joined by Brodie Careess. The young trio have two wins a piece and truly demonstrated indomitable nerve and supreme skill in dispatching of side after side. Longboy leads the way between them on ERA but they have all been key to the Raptors success. That said they were joined at various stages by stand-ins Theo Scheepers and Jeff Whitter who also pipped a win to their names each (and in Whitter’s case two saves as well.)

Behind the plate Ken Pike received the vast majority of pitches in what was his first full season as a catcher. Being as I am the one writing this article I can hardly sing my own praises but I have been assured by Zac and Arnie that I did a good job of the issue. While I still have much to learn I am looking forward to continuing in what has been the position I have enjoyed by far the most, and taken to with relative comfort.

First base duties were initially taken on by Jeff Whitter and covered in his absences by Charlie Mayhew. Both performed outstandingly throughout the year being solid and generally error free despite some occasionally errant throws coming their way. Jeff’s amicable and calm nature made him one of the on-field captains helping to calm the team in times of frustration, while Charlie’s continual improvement saw a climax in the final game against Tonbridge where a series of amazing full-stretch catches helped to keep the game very close indeed.

Second and short were shared intermittently between the young pitchers, Theo Scheepers and coach Arnie, while by Sonam Lama, in his first year with the Raptors, demonstrated the kind of arm power capable of easily reaching first base and thereby cemented third base as his own. The coach again led the way from the front demonstrating the fewest errors per game for an infielder, and in fact one of the lowest numbers for the whole team. That said it will be fielding errors that he will want to cut out the most, preferably by post season but certainly by next year with nearly half of the team’s conceded runs coming un-earned.

Outfield was shared by Warwyk Byrne, Charlie Mayhew (when not at first), Mark Caress and Andy Bartram. Andy has made a solid case for rookie of the year (not just by virtue of being the only rookie on the team, but also by having the lowest error-per-game rating of any of the regular players. His assured glove, good arm, and fast pace to reach the ball made him a reliable and key player for left and centre.

Along the way there were notable performances by players who only joined for brief periods too. Matt Kiddie’s pitching against the 2sox at mid-season blew the side away and showed unbelievable pace, whilst two grand-slam homers from Ben Marques against the Mavericks helped to seal the game that confirmed the Raptors as Pool winners. Raptors Veteran Glen Downer was sadly occupied elsewhere for most of the season but managed to get in two games where he played solidly in the outfield. He is appealing for special dispensation to the commissioners to be allowed to join the team for post-season.

Defensively the Raptors were 5th in the league for runs conceded, but as for batting, well that’s where the stats really get interesting. While Arnie has not shared the statistics including the last two games, the production was spread throughout the team and at game 12 the numbers were as follows:

  • Runs leader was Ken Pike (41), followed by Arnie (35) and Sonam (35).
  • Hits went to Arnie (24) followed by Pike (20) and then Sonam and Brodie on a par (19).
  • Home run leader by a mile is Ben Marques (2) followed by Jim Arnott (1).
  • On Steals Ken Pike led by some distance (41) over Lama (25) and Arnie and Charlie (24 each).
  • Base on balls leader was Charlie Mayhew (26) followed by Theo (22) and Arnie again (18).
  • Arnie lead the way for AVG, SLG and OPS too but was closely followed in all three by a variety of people including his son Zac, while OBP leader Charlie Mayhew was clear of the rest of the field by some way.

While Arnie, Ken and Sony consistently led the line-ups between them, the whole team demonstrated consistency and ability at the plate averaging 24 points per game and having scored 46 runs more than any other team over the season. They had 7 games in which they scored 30 runs or more.

So in summary? Well the team will be relying on that offence to see them through at Farnham, but that being said the defence had consistently improved throughout the year and should they play to the kind of levels that saw them hold pool B leaders the Blackjacks to 12 or the Eagles and Archers to 4 and 6 respectively then they will be a real danger team. They have proven themselves fallible, but they have also proven that when they set their minds to it they are a force to be reckoned with, and they will surely be fired up to the max in Slough come September. Key warm-up friendlies, hopefully against higher division opposition such as the Hawks, will be key to preparing the team up for things to come. Meanwhile, we all cross our fingers and get our lucky charms at the ready and pray for a successful post season.

Please note, any players from teams not going to Farnham park, your assistance either as, experienced base coaches, bat men, general helpers and especially supporters will surely be massively appreciated and you will get to be a part of Herts Baseball history with the Falcons and Raptors both set to feature. Give Arnie and Lee a shout if you can help out in any way.

 

 

 

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Is Marques the first British player to hit 2 grand slam home runs in the same game?

On Sunday the Herts Raptors won at the Guildford Mavericks to stay top of the British Single-A League and in the process catcher, Ben Marques, hit two grand slam home runs. For readers who are new to the game, a grand slam is a home run with the bases loaded to score four runs with one swing of the bat.

According to legendary pitchers Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine “chicks dig the long ball” (see their Nike video below) and we asked Marques whether he has experienced a surge in interest from females since Sunday. He said “my phone has been ringing off the hook all day and night”.

 

Marques’ achievement is certainly a first for Herts Baseball Club. The club has had the back-to-back-to-back 3-homerun game by Jim Denison in the Herts Falcons vs Cambridge Monarchs AAA League game in 2005, but there have been no Herts players who have hit two grand slam homeruns in the same game.

We are now going through the records to see if this feat has been done by any player in any of the British leagues. We contacted Joe Gray of Project COBB for assistance, who said “from my records for the top tier I have only one instance where two grand slams were clobbered in the same game, but that was by two different players (Robbie Unsell and William Schmitt on 21 August 2011 in a Bracknell Blazers vs Richmond Flames NBL game). I don’t have anything formal for lower league tiers, but I have done a fair bit of reading of old match reports and never come across this occurrence”.

Gray added: “Many congratulations to Ben for a tremendous achievement. I just hope that he does not do a “Tony Cloninger” who hit two grand slams in his entire MLB career, and they came in the same game while playing for the Atlanta Braves in 1966.”

If you have come across a player hitting two grand slams in the same game in Great Britain, we would be interested to know, so please contact us or send us a message via facebook or twitter.

 

by Herts Baseball News Editor

Herts pick up Tournament Bronze Cup. Attention firmly on upcoming league games.

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Herts players prepare to face the Midlands All Stars (photo by Rob Jones)

Similar to the All-Star Week in America, British clubs had their traditional midsummer break at the weekend taking part in the International London Tournament. Herts was represented at the event by a team made up of players from its various squads of the four tiers of the British baseball leagues. They had a difficult start losing their first two games to the Milton Keynes Bucks and the Midlands All Stars. Herts bounced back on Sunday with wins over the Milton Keynes Coyotes and the South London Pirates to claim the Tournament’s Bronze Cup. Sunday’s games saw Herts Falcons pitcher, Darrin Ward, hit two homeruns.

Tom Everex-Armstrong was one of many Herts players who wore the Great Britain National Team jerseys this weekend (photo by Rob Jones)

The various Great Britain National Baseball Teams, from Under-16 to Under-23, were also involved and they featured a large number of Herts players.

The focus now turns back on the all important league games as we enter the final 6 weeks of the regular season which will determine who will play in the postseason playoffs to decide the national champions in the four senior and two youth league tiers.

The Herts Falcons will host the Lakenheath Diamondbacks this Sunday, 21 July, in a doubleheader. They cannot afford to slip up. Anything less than two wins and the chasing London Mets and Southampton Mustangs could leap over them into first place. The game starts at 12:00 at Grovehill Ballpark in Hemel Hempstead (free admission).

On the same day the Herts Ravens will face the Triple-A League-leaders, London Metros. This game will also start at 12:00pm at Grovehill Ballpark.

The Herts Hawks currently occupy the last playoff spot in the Double-A league, which is the third league tier of British Baseball. This Sunday they will travel to Richmond to face the Dragons, who are just outside the playoff zone and will see this as their golden opportunity to overtake the Herts Hawks. The Herts Raptors and Herts Eagles travel to Guildford and Essex, respectively, in the Single-A League. The Raptors have already secured a playoff spot, but need to keep their winning run going for a higher playoff seeding.

 

by Ken Pike

Road to the single A playoffs

By Ken Pike

As you might have already heard thanks to a very proud ‘yours truly’, the Herts Raptors are confirmed as being in the playoffs (with the caveat that they do not forfeit any games between now and the end of the season, which could bring other teams back into play – but we won’t let that happen) and with any luck some of you are planning to come and support. With other Herts teams, including the Falcons, being right in the mix for also going to British Baseball’s new home,Farnham Park, there might be a big convoy headed from Hemel to Slough in the first couple of weekends of September. It would be great to get as much support as possible for this historic occasion for the club, so we urge you all to get your friends and family to come along.

Just so you know what to expect over playoffs, the structure for the single A post season is as follows:

  • 12 teams in three pools play in A South.
  • The two best pool winners get first round bye into the NBC.
  • The 3rd pool winner (#3 seed) and next 3 best teams based on win %, regardless of pool play wild card round on September 1st, with the Semi Finals and Championship game at Farnham Park on September 7th and 8th.

As in all leagues, all teams will be seeded based on win % to establish postseason ranking.

 

Now the Raptors final position is not set in stone and here are the two main permutations:

Worst case scenario (which still ain’t bad to be honest)

The Raptors have some work to do to determine exact postseason positioning, but the main part is done. They are set for Farnham Park.

The worst case scenario is that they don’t win another game and the Coyotes win all of theirs then the Raptors would be #4 seed and placed as the top wildcard team. This would result in them having to play in the first round of the playoffs on the 1st of September at Farnham Park against the second best wildcard team while the Pool winner with the lowest record of the pool winners will play the third wildcard team. If the Raptors win the wildcard game they would face the #2 seeded team (which would in that scenario likely be the Coyotes) on September 7th.

Best case scenario

If the Raptors win 1 more game (or the Coyotes lose one) by the end of regular season, then the Raptors will clinch the Pool A pennant and a #1 or #2 seeding is already sealed in that scenario. This would mean they will get a 1st round bye and the first game would be on September 7, also at Farnham Park, and they would nominally be the home team facing one of the wildcard round winners. As to being first or second seed, that depends on a very close race with the Marauders and will likely not be settled until the last game of the regular season.

The final is on September 8 at Farnham Park.

 

Expect to cheer on your fellow teams, as well as fight tooth and nail for your own team!

by Ken Pike

Raptors bats ablaze to clinch playoffs on hottest day

Will Zucker hits another grounder as the Raptors drove through their nearest opposition in 30 degree heat

by Ken Pike

 

The Raptors hosted Southern Single A Pool A rivals Milton Keynes knowing that a win would clinch a  guaranteed playoff position and set them up to win the pool outright and earn a first round bye at Farnham Park. They were facing a team that had beaten them by the narrowest of margins earlier in the year, and while the self assured pronouncements that the Raptors had been missing key players were not without basis, there was still room for doubt and question over what the result would be.

In 32 degree heat the Raptors had taken a very easy warmup to conserve energy and hydration levels while Milton Keynes took the opposite approach. After watching their sister team, the Eagles’ playoff hopes sadly fail at the hands of the Pool C leaders, London Marauders the delayed Pool A titans clash could commence. Young Brodie Caress’ reassured mound performance only saw a couple of Coyotes get on base, but the first inning was ultimately cleaned out without any damage being done. The Raptors’ bats had been vicious all year and if anything the sun had set them on fire as they made mincemeat of the opening Coyotes pitcher going around the order and drawing a replacement pitcher to the mound before three outs were recorded opening up an 11 run lead right from the word go.

Back in the dugout a touch of overconfidence asserted itsself with players lamenting that the Raptors could have been looking at a perfect season were it not for a couple of weak performances, but Milton Keynes came back to the field with more intent. They notched up two scores as some defensive errors started to creep into the Herts team. T he sun played a serious part with several balls lost in the blazing sky and the heat causing some more lapses of concentration. The starters for the home side have an average on base percentage of well over .500 and more than 170 stolen bases (17 per game) before going in to this game so two runs was hardly a concern. The Raptors promptly brought around another 8 runners to pump the lead to 17.

The third inning played out somewhat differently though. Whether the heat had finally got to the Raptors as well, or whether Brodie Caress’ young arm was getting tired is uncertain but a series of errors and missed chances allowed 8 Milton Keynes Players to cross home plate. The final out came courtesy of short stop Will Zucker who ignored the fact that he could not see the ball which had again disappeared in the sun, and he guessed at its location… correctly. Certainly a wobble for the home defense, but quickly mitigated with 4 reply runs leaving a reduced lead of 13.

The Raptors blip was shortlived however as they came back refocused. Brodie struck out two Coyotes before the final out at first retired the side in order and the Raptors bats came back out to knock in another 3 and the lead looked healthy again at 16. The young pitcher’s arm and concentration had been shot by the fifth inning where five players crossed the plate. Never the less it was far too little as the Raptors brought in another 10 going around the order one and a half times in the bottom of the inning and putting the game beyond any reasonable doubt with a lead of over 20 runs.

In an effort to shut down the game and get out of the sun, coach Arnie Longboy brought out sidearm closer Will Zucker. Will made a slightly shakey start, thanks in part to accidentally hitting a Coyote very squarely on the knee with a wild pitch. While it took him an inning to get his composure fully back he allowed only 2 runs in the sixth and seventh while the Raptors responded with 2 of their own.  The lead remained at 20 at the top of the last inning, but this was too much of an ask for a now dehydrated and exhausted Coyotes team who valiantly got 2 runners around before Will Zucker struck out the final batter to bring the Raptors team to ecstatic jubilation knowing they had just secured the first playoff in Raptors history.

As the players cheered and embraced it was plain to see what this result meant to them, and it is certain they will be bringing their determination and love of the game to Farnham park for the off season. Having beaten every team they faced over the past 7 games, including the heavyweight Marauders, Blackjacks, Arrow and now Coyotes they carry a serious momentum with them. Another win and they top their pool, while topping the single A league can be guaranteed with three straight wins inthe remaining games or a mixture of wins and Marauders losses.

Raptors coach Arnie Longboy said: : “I am so proud of the team and what we’ve done to get this far.  A few people have asked me how we’ve managed to score so many runs this season.  First of all we have had production throughout the entire line up.  The fact that our number nine hitter leads the team in RBI’s should tell you something.  Secondly I think the guys have come to realize that just some basic fundamentals of base running and situational hitting can make a big difference.  Yes, we continue to have the occasional fielding errors and that’s to be expected.  But more importantly we have managed to eliminate almost all mental errors on the base paths that cost us outs.   And with our mix of young talent, sophomore players, and veterans really starting to gel it should make for an exciting rest of the season and of course Farnham park!”

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R
MK Coyotes 0 2 8 0 5 2 2 19
Herts Raptors 11 8 4 3 10 2 0 38