The Herts Ravens travelled to the Cambridge Royals upbeat after a good run of 5 wins and 1 loss in the last six games put them back in the playoff race. They knew they were about to face one of the favourites for the AAA title, but they were not aware that just a week ago Cambridge had made a player signing which could turn the league on its head.

Doug Grabowski arrived from America on duty with the nearby US air bases. He is around 6 feet and 5 inches in height and has the physical attributes which have become the standard for the pitching staff of MLB teams. Similar to Roy Hobbs in the movie “The Natural”, there is little information about his career on the internet, but we understand he has played at the college level back in America.

AAA League (Game 1): Herts Ravens 0 Cambridge Royals 10 (click to view box scores)

His fastball overwhelmed the Ravens. Perhaps they would have had some success after a few innings of getting the timing on their swings right, but that became impossible when he introduced his knee-buckling curveball and changeup. Grabowski is certainly the best pitcher in the AAA League and Herts Ravens Manager, Carlos Casal, went a step further. “He is probably the best pitcher in any of the British Leagues today. We didn’t have a radar gun on hand but it probably reached 85-90mph.” said Casal.

From the 20 plate appearances made by Herts batters only 5 resulted in the ball being put in play. The remainder were 12 strikeouts and 3 walks giving Doug Grabowski a complete game shutout no-hitter on his British baseball league debut. He also proved to be a class act quietly shaking the hands of every Herts player during the break between the two games. Players like him are a rarity and his presence can have a very positive effect on efforts to promote baseball and the league. The British Baseball Federation should not miss the opportunity to publicise outstanding players like him.

In this first game of the day the Ravens were not able to keep up despite good pitching from Petar Kikel.

AAA League (Game 2): Herts Ravens 3 Cambridge Royals 13 (click to view box scores)

The Ravens were eager to see the back of Doug Grabowski and face a different pitcher in the second game of the doubleheader. Levandowski seemed a much more hittable pitcher, but despite a much slower fastball Herts only managed 3 runs on 3 hits and 3 walks. The hits came from Conner Brown, Gilberto Medina and Liam Green. The 3 runs were not enough and the Ravens went down 13-3.

The Herts Ravens had to face the Royals without ace pitcher Louis Hare who fractured his left elbow in a football game at the end of June. They need him back if they are to stand a chance of somehow getting back in the playoff race especially as the club will be losing Seth Lipstock in the coming weeks as he flies back to America.

It will be interesting to see how the introduction of Doug Grabowski will affect the AAA League as we enter the deciding final third of the season.

Our visit to Cambridge gave us a lot of food for thought. The Royals team includes a large number of players from the US air bases. With the news of the their neighbours, Lakenheath Diamondbacks, struggling this Sunday in their NBL game at Southampton, the door is open for the two clubs to consider a merger in 2014. While Lakenheath have American Air Force players, they appear to lack the administrative infrastructure and community activities of the Cambridge Royals. Bringing the two teams together would create a very strong multi-team organisation which would have the potential to become a major force in British Baseball. Lakenheath or Cambridge club officials reading this article may want to schedule a meeting in October to secure a merger deal.

The Herts Ravens have kept their hopes of qualifying for the AAA League playoffs alive after splitting their doubleheader with the Richmond Knights.

BBF AAA League (Game1): Herts Ravens 7 Richmond Knights 6 (click to view box scores)

The Ravens went into the game looking to extend their 4-game winning streak. Manager Carlos Casal was on the DL and Louis Hare was once again in charge of the team. He led by example producing yet another outstanding pitching performance, but Richmond made it difficult putting together 5 hits and scoring 5 runs in the fifth inning to take a 6-2 lead. It seemed like the game was out of reach for Herts but they somehow managed to reproduce the incredible comeback from the game at Oxford 7 days ago. Dace Westfallen, Jonathon Lewys, Gilberto Medina and Aspi Dimitrov each came through with a hit to put the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position, but there were two outs and all the pressure fell on the young shoulders of first baseman, Kyle Lloyd-Jones. The Great Britain Under-19 National Team player drove a bullet through the infield to bring in two runs giving the Ravens a 7-6 lead. He went 3-for-4 with 4 RBI in that game.

Louis Hare kept his composure and closed the game in the bottom of the final inning in a dramatic come-from-behind win for Herts.

BBF AAA League (Game2): Herts Ravens 5 Richmond Knights 2 (click to view box scores)

The Ravens were unable to keep the momentum going in the second game. Richmond pitcher, Julio Malpica, had an outstanding game allowing only 2 runs on 3 hits. Matt Spaulding had two of those hits and Kal Dimitrov had the other for Herts.

2 runs could have been enough for the Ravens as Mie Cattermole pitched a gem of a game. He allowed only 6 hits and no earned runs. It was only the defensively shaky third and fourth inning which cost Herts dearly.

The two runs in the sixth inning reduced Richmond’s lead to 5-2 and the stage was set for another dramatic Ravens comeback, but it wasn’t to be. Malpica held on for the win.

After this round of games, the Ravens are in sixth place. The odds are against them but their good run has given them a hope of reaching the playoffs. They are 4 games back on the playoff places with 12 games to play. They will need to win 2 out of every 3 games between now and the end of the regular season to stand a chance. They have won 6 of the last 10 so they are more less on track, but need to maintain that momentum.

Update: 24 hours after the game the Ravens received the bad news that pitcher Louis Hare has fractured his elbow in two places playing football. It is uncertain how long it would take for him to return to action. Initial estimates suggest between 3 and 6 weeks as a minimum, but could be as long as 3 months. The one positive is that it is not his throwing arm so he may be able to return as a pitcher with another batter batting for him as a designated hitter.

Despite picking up two wins 7 days ago, the Herts Ravens were still languishing in the bottom end of the standings when they travelled to Oxford to face the AAA League leaders. The odds were stacked heavily against the Ravens and not even the most optimistic Herts fans would have predicted the eventual outcome of this Sunday’s doubleheader.

AAA League (Game1) Herts Ravens 6 Oxford Kings 4 (click to view box scores)

Manager Carlos Casal was unable to travel with the team after he aggravated his knee injury in the closing moments of last week’s game with the Leones. He had given his instructions to stand-in manager Louis Hare and one of those instructions was Hare to start on the mound in game 1. His last pitching outing was outstanding securing a 5-2 win against the red-hot Badgers. The team would need a similar performance to stay in the game and Louis Hare did not disappoint. Despite finding himself 4-1 down after 3 innings he shut the Kings out putting zeros in the next 4 innings.

Time was running out and he needed some run-support. It came in the form of a 2-out inside the park home run by shortstop Xavier Gonzalez. That fired up the whole team. In the sixth inning they produced a big rally once again with two outs. Hits from Carlos Velazco-Carus (1-3, 2RBI, SB), Vassil Botev (1-4, SB) and again Xavier Gonzalez (3-4, 3RBI, HR, SB) contributed to a 4-run inning to give Herts a 6-4 lead.

Louis Hare, with solid support from his defence, shut the door on the Kings to secure a very satisfying come-from-behind win.

AAA League (Game2) Herts Ravens 13 Oxford Kings 0 (F/5) (click to view box scores)

17-year-old Liam Green was the starting pitcher for Herts in the second game. The youngster from Hemel Hempstead has grown up with the Herts Baseball organisation from the age of 11 and he is now starting to add control to go along with his very strong arm. One-after-another the Oxford batters struggled to make any kind of solid contact. Any pitches which they managed to put in play were picked up by a Ravens defence which was outstanding the whole day. The team committed only 1 error in the first game of the day and no errors in the second game.

Oxford were also solid defensively committing only 1 error, but a combination of 10 hits and 9 walks cost them as the visitors from Hertfordshire built up a 13-0 lead. Jon Lewys stood out with the bat hitting 3-for-3 with 2 RBI.

Liam Green stayed strong until the end pitching a 2-hitter, complete game shutout. Most importantly he walked only 3, a sign that he is gradually becoming a pitcher rather than just a thrower.

Manager Carlos Casal was kept abreast of events in Oxford and was delighted with the result. “I am very proud of the whole team. Great work. I just wish I was there” said Casal.

The win lifts the Herts Ravens into 6th place in the standings with a 5-9 record. It is still very difficult to imagine that they can turn a nightmare 1-9 start of the season and sneak into the playoff positions, but if they continue to play flawless baseball as they did today, we could be looking at the most amazing comeback in sport.

The Herts Ravens have had a difficult time so far in their debut season in the AAA-League, but this weekend they secured two morale-boosting wins against the Leones de Feltham to put their season back on track. There was danger that the final innings of a thrilling second game in this doubleheader would be overshadowed by non-baseball events, but now that the dust has settled everyone who was at the game will begin to appreciate the exciting game which they witnessed.

AAA League (Game 1): Herts Ravens 16 Leones de Feltham 4 (click to view box scores)

The Ravens welcomed back starting pitcher, Petar Kikel, for his first league appearance of 2013. This was exactly the boost they needed. He gave the team 6 impressive innings allowing only 1 earned run on 4 hits and striking out 5. The team had put the nightmare 3-for-41 batting performance 7 days earlier at Finsbury Park behind them and produced 10 hits which included at least 1 hit from each of the batting spots from 1 to 9. Ben Marques also managed to steal home, although it wasn’t clear whether this play was put on by manager, Carlos Casal, and whether his team mate who was up at bat knew about it. The Leones didn’t help themselves walking 11 batters and this deadly combination of hits and walks produced 16 runs and a final score of 16-4 in 6 innings.

AAA League (Game 2): Herts Ravens 10 Leones de Feltham 9 (F/8) (click to view box scores)

The second game proved to be a much closer encounter. Tom Everex-Armstrong had an effective performance on the mound. He was relieved by Matt Spaulding who played his first game of the 2013 season did not allow any earned runs, striking out 5 over 3 2/3 innings.

The Ravens had a big third inning putting 5 runs on the scoreboard with a big hit from Gilberto Medina (2-2), and a 1-run double by Petar Kikel. Jon Lewys also had a good day batting 4-for-8 over the two games. Feltham responded with 4 runs in the bottom of the inning to tie the game and then scored 2 more in the fourth to take an 8-6 lead.

The Ravens found it much more difficult to connect solidly against Feltham’s pitcher, Jeffry, in this game. He was mixing his curveball well with a good fastball, but the biggest hurdle which batters from both teams had to battle with all day was the inconsistent strike zone. Pitches at eye level were called strikes and at times batters felt helpless. The frustration was growing on both sides. The umpire didn’t help himself by allowing players to question decision of strikes and balls, safe or out, foul or fair, balk or no balk. Sometimes these discussions between players, managers and umpire involved 10 or more people and resembled a session to approve a United Nations resolution. A doubleheader would usually end at around 5pm. On this occasion the time was 7pm and the game was reaching an exciting climax.

The Ravens pulled one run back in the sixth but were facing defeat trailing 8-7 in the final inning. A lead-off single by Mike Cattermole was exactly what they needed. He moved to second after the next batter was walked and managed to get to third on a wild pitch. Up stepped player-manager, Carlos Casal, to pinch-hit carrying a knee injury. He grounded into a fielder’s choice but crucially brought Cattermole home to tie the game. Despite his injury Casal’s enthusiasm on the base paths could not be contained. He stole second base and then limped another 90 feet to advance to third (with 1 out) on the overthrow, visibly in pain willing to wreck his knee ligaments for the cause. Ultimately he was stranded on third base as the next two batters struck out after some very controversial umpiring calls.

Herts brought Liam Green to pitch in the bottom of the inning with the game on the line and no room for error. The leadoff batter for Feltham, Miguel, appeared to lose his cool on a slightly wild pitch from Liam Green and he stepped towards the mound accusing the pitcher of throwing to hit the batter intentionally. During that exchange there was fear that the game will not be able to restart as the tension had risen considerably. It took several minutes for the situation to calm down. The game resumed and Green managed to strike out the batter and calmly went on to induce two more quick outs and take the game into extra innings.

In the top of the eighth inning the Ravens somehow managed to manufacture two runs on two walks and two errors, without a hit. Leones responded in the bottom of the inning scoring a run and putting the tying run on second base but Liam kept his composure to secure the game, helped along the way by Jake Caress who made a spectacular diving catch in centerfield with the game on the line.

Despite the unpleasant incident in the final inning, the two teams shook hands at the end of the game and showed a great deal of appreciation and respect towards each other wanting to put the confrontation behind after what was a very exciting game of baseball.

The Herts Ravens travelled to Finsbury Park in the hope of pushing into the playoff race of the AAA League and they had the opportunity to do so, but failed to execute when the game was presented to them on a silver platter on numerous occasions.

AAA League Game 1: Herts Ravens 3 London Mets II 6 (click to view box scores)

The Mets II took a 6-1 lead in the first game of this doubleheader. Their pitchers Taichi and Rory Flood were doing very well to limit the Herts Ravens offense to 2 hits only but they were allowing too many walks (12). They allowed the bases to be loaded in 4 of the 7 innings most of which were with less than 2 outs. The Mets pitchers and defence somehow managed to get out of trouble with well executed double plays or strikeouts.

Despite this the Ravens will know that they missed a golden opportunity to pick up a win. They managed only 2 hits in 7 innings and left 15 runners on base, compared to 4 left on base by the Mets. They can take some positives though with Liam Green having a good outing and appearing to be recovering well after an arm injury earlier in the season. Green allowed only 1 earned run on 4 hits and, most importantly, no walks. Jake Caress also did well behind the plate catching a good game and working well with the pitchers to limit the Mets to 5 hits.

AAA League Game 2: Herts Ravens 0 London Mets II 12 (click to view box scores)

The Ravens had the opportunity to redeem themselves in the second game of the day, but came up against London’s pitcher, Matt, who dominated throughout. He struck out 9 and walked 2 in 5 innings of work. Going into the final inning he managed to get two quick outs and needed just one more to record an impressive no-hitter, but a 2-out line drive single to left centerfield took that away from him.

The Mets II clinched the win with a convincing 12-0 scoreline. Over the course of the two games only two Herts players managed to get a hit and the team as whole went 3-for-41, a batting average .073. Ravens Player-Manager, Carlos Casal, who is on the disabled list didn’t want to dwell too much on the outcome of this doubleheader. He said “It is best if we put this game behind us, put it out of our heads, recharge the batteries and come back strong next weekend against the Leones de Feltham”.

The Herts Ravens roster is gradually returning to full strength and they are starting to see the results. They went into Sunday’s clash with the Bristol badgers with a 0-4 record and they needed a win.

AAA League: Bristol Badgers 2 Herts Ravens 4 (click to view box scores)

Returning to the starting lineup were Jake Caress, Jon Lewys, Louis Hare, Matt Johnston and Vassil Botev. Louis Hare started on the mound and controlled the game from the first pitch locating the corners consistently. The Badgers were unable to get any runs on the board in the first 4 innings.

In the bottom of the second inning Ravens player-manager, Carlos Casal, hit a laser down the left field foul line to bring Jon Lewys home and give his team a 1-0 lead. Usually a hit like this is a sure double for Casal and he may even try to take third base, but he had to stop at first as he picked up a knee injury during a relay drill in the pre-game warm-up. He managed to play the whole of this first game, but sat out in the second game. He has been placed on the disabled list awaiting news of a MRI scan next week.

Herts extended the lead with 2 more runs in the bottom of the fourth after a single by Matt Johnston, a walk for Casal and a rare defensive error in a game which saw only 2 errors by Bristol and 1 by Herts.

The Badgers put together a big rally in the top of the fifth with 4 hits but even then the Ravens managed to restrict them to only 2 runs in that inning getting a key out in a close play at home. This was the first out of the inning and perhaps the Bristol third base coach was a little too eager to get on the scoreboard or perhaps they made the decision knowing that Herts pitcher Louis Hare had not allowed any runs in the previous 4 innings and felt that this is a rare opportunity to take a risk and force a run in.

The score was 3-2 and it seemed like the game was going to slip away from the Ravens. Up stepped Louis Hare in the bottom of the fifth with two outs to hit his second double of the day deep into right centerfield. Gilberto Medina followed up with a single to bring Hare home, giving his team a little more breathing space with the score at 4-2, but there was still a lot of work to be done as the surging Badgers had two more innings to try to come back into the game.

Louis Hare continued his outstanding pitching performance and produced two perfect innings retiring 6 consecutive batters to complete the game and secure the first win in the history of the Herts Ravens. The game ended very fittingly with Louis Hare making an amazing diving play against the dugout on the first base side of the field to grab a foul ball. The play has already been nominated for the Play of the Year Award and it would take something very special to beat it. Seth Lipstock did make a claim of his own in that same inning with a leaping catch at first base after a laser line drive, but the votes are likely to sway in Louis Hare’s favour as his catch seemed impossible to make.

AAA League: Bristol Badgers 11 Herts Ravens 2 (click to view box scores)

In game two it was the turn of Bristol’s pitcher Peralta to put on a show. He pitched a complete game allowing only 1 earned run on 3 hits and, similar to Louis Hare, did not allow any walks. Liam Green was back on the mound for Herts after recovering from a shoulder injury. Just seeing him back throwing is very positive news for the Ravens for the remainder of the season although he and the coaching staff would have to be careful until he builds up strength again and returns to 100% fitness. In view of his recovery Coach Carlos Casal made the right decision to use him sparingly and to substitute him after 3 innings of work.

Seth Lipstock came in to pitch for what was his first appearance on the mound, ever. The coaching staff had started discussing the idea of trying Lipstock on the mound earlier in the week as he has one of the strongest arms in the club even including the Herts NBL players. It took him 2 or 3 batters to get comfortable with the strike zone, but after that he did tremendously well pitching the remaining 4 innings against a hard-hitting Bristol team. He even managed to add an offspeed pitch in the later innings to accompany his good fastball. This is another positive news for the Ravens adding an extra player to the pitching staff as the season heats up.

Bristol won game two deservedly with a score of 11-2, but for the Ravens there were many positives to take from this doubleheader with more players like Kyle Lloyd-Jones, Mike Cattermole, Nic Goetz and Rod Naghar expected to make their come back shortly.

The London Metros picked up two comfortable wins against the Herts Ravens in the British AAA League. In both games of the doubleheader the Ravens kept up with the pace of the Metros up to the fourth inning and were very much in the game, but devastating batting display by the team from the capital in the fifth and sixth innings took the games beyond the reach of the Ravens.

The Metros had the luxury of their NBL team resting this weekend and were able to call upon the services of two of their NBL starting pitchers. Ordinarily, under the league rules NBL pitchers would not be able to pitch in the lower leagues, however by virtue of the fact that the London Mets had played only two league games so far, pitchers who have pitched less than 14 innings for the London Mets in the NBL were able to pitch in this AAA league game. Right-hander Pietro Sollecito gave Herts a concoction of breaking pitches mixed with a change of speed which the visitors were not able to cope with. Sollecito allowed only 4 hits in 5 innings. Carlos Casal, Carlos Velazco-Carus and Dave Westfallen seemed most likely to make solid contact with his pitches and they did produce 3 of the 4 hits. In the bottom half of the innings the Metros always seemed to threaten, even in innings when they were not able to score any runs.

Click to view Game 1 box scores

Jonathan Cramman, the other member of the London Mets (NBL) pitching staff, started on the mound in game two. He also allowed only 4 Herts hits over 6 innings of work. 3 of those hits came in the fourth inning which put the Ravens right back in the game with the score 3-2 to the Metros, but once again London’s bats came alive in the last few innings of the game to complete a deserved 12-2 win.

Seth Lipstock made his first appearance of the season for the Ravens and he showed why he was one of the top performers for the Herts Hawks last season in what was the defensive play of the day. With 1 out Lipstock made a spectacular flyball catch in left field and then threw the ball all the way to home plate on a frozen rope straight into the glove of catcher Jake Caress to apply the tag on the helmet of the oncoming London player who was trying to score on the sacrifice fly. The runner managed to make contact with home plate just before the tag was applied, but that didn’t take away from the impressive throw which fans would expect to see from outfielders like Ichiro or Jeff Francoeur, but not in a AAA League game.

Click to view Game 2 box scores

“We couldn’t have asked for any more from our pitchers Mike Cattermole ad Carlos Velazco-Carus. We just couldn’t produce offensively to keep us in the games” said Herts Ravens Manager, Carlos Casal at the end of the day. He added “Despite the heavy defeats, the score does not tell the full story of these games. There were many positives and my players performed very well”.

With four defeats in the opening four games of the season, this is not the ideal start for the Ravens, but the Hawks had a similarly difficult start last year and ended up in the AA-League postseason and the national semi-finals. The team will certainly stay positive in the knowledge that over these first four games they had to field two very different teams due to player injuries and unavailability. When players like Jon Lewys, Louis Hare, Nic Goetz, Pete Kikel and Rod Naghar – all with previous NBL experience – make their first appearance of the season, the Herts Ravens are expected to be in much better position to compete against the big guns of the AAA League.

The Ravens may have lost two games in heartbreaking fashion against the visiting Leones de Feltham, but they will be going into their next league games with plenty of optimism.

As their name would suggest, the Leones are a team made up of Latin American players with many years of baseball experience so this doubleheader was always going to be a difficult test for the Ravens. With some of the Ravens’ big guns away, it was good to see the club’s upcoming young talent step up and they didn’t disappoint.

GAME1: Leones de Feltham 8 Herts Ravens 4

Liam Green was the starting pitcher in the first game going 4 1/3 innings with 4 strikeouts and 4 earned runs. It was very positive to see improvement in Green’s control with the number of walks reduced significantly and most of them came at the end of his outing when his arm started to tire.

This was a game where both teams showed some good pitching and defence and the score stayed at 2-2 right up to the fifth inning, but then the visitors opened up a 7-2 lead with a big 5-run fifth inning. Gilberto Medina came in to relieve Green on the mound and he kept Herts in the game allowing only 1 hit and no earned runs in 2 2/3 innings. The team couldn’t take advantage of this and was not able to mount a major come back leaving quite a large number of runners on base (11). Matt Johnston who made his comeback from a hamstring injury, had an outstanding day with the bat (3-4).

Click to view game 1 box scores

GAME2: Leones de Feltham 15 Herts Ravens 13

With Mike Cattermole on the mound for Herts in game two, they got off to a quick start and built up a 7-2 lead after just 2 innings. The heart of the Ravens batting order of Liam Green (2-5 3RBI), Gilberto Medina (3-5 2RBI) and Carlos Casal (2-2) was causing the Leones some real problems. However, the visitors started put up numbers in the next few innings to tie the game at 9-9 in the fifth. They also managed to silence the bats of the Ravens by bringing in their game one starting pitcher. He had pitched 7 innings in game 1 and pitched another 2 in the second game. When he came out for his third inning of game two (10th inning of the day) he threw one pitch at which point Herts Manager, Carlos Casal, referred umpire Dave Smith and the visiting Manager, Andres Maslowski, BBF’s rule 7 (pitching restrictions) which indicates that “If a pitcher pitches in both games of a doubleheader, he/she shall not accumulate more than 9 full innings over 2 games, however distributed (Doubleheader). A pitcher shall be considered to have violated these rules if he throws one pitch in an inning above the prescribed limits.” Under these regulations “The minimum penalty for violating these rules is automatic ejection from the game for the pitcher and his manager”, however the Ravens waived that penalty which allowed both the visiting manager and the pitcher to stay in the game.

By that time the team from Feltham had built a 15-10 lead and the Ravens had one last chance to get back in the game in the bottom of the last inning. 6 Herts players reached base to make the score 15-13 and loaded the bases but the Leones held on and secured the win.

Click to view game 2 box scores

Carlos Casal paid a compliment to his team. “We couldn’t have asked our players for more. A very positive performance giving us lots of optimism for the rest of the season. Several young players made their AAA-League debuts today and it will be exciting to see them develop and grow in the coming years.”

Next up for the Ravens is a visit to Finsbury Park next Sunday, 28 April, where they will meet the London Metros who are 1-3 so far this season but this is after playing against two of the AAA Leagu favourites, Bristol and Oxford, so tis will be a real test for Casal’s team.