The Herts Falcons have made another big acquisition with the addition of Zac Malone (pictured right) to their roster.

The 22-year-old is from Tennessee, USA, and he started his baseball career 14 years ago. He went on to play varsity baseball for the Fishers Tigers in Indiana, USA. He was voted on the All Conference team in both his junior and senior years. This is a considerable achievement bearing in mind that he was competing against players in that conference who are now playing in Major League Baseball. Among them are the closer for the Washington Nationals, Drew Storen, the catcher for the Cincinnati Reds, Tucker Barnhart, and Nolan Sanburn who is a member of the Oakland A’s pitching staff.

Zac Malone’s primary position is catcher, but he has also filled other infield positions. He is expected to bring some power to the Herts batting lineup having been among the home run leaders for the Fishers Tigers. He bats and throws right-handed.

Washington Nationals pitcher Drew Storen is one of several MLB players which Zac Malone has had to compete with

This news comes after a difficult start of the season for the Falcons in which they suffered a series of injuries to key players on top of the loss of some big names at the end of last season so it is fair to say that the Falcons still have some work to do to fill all the positions, but it looks like the team has regained the Bingo-Bango energy of 2012 and 2013. Injured players are steadily returning to the lineup, including Tom Armstrong and Abel Salas who pitched a gem on his return on Sunday. Jose Sosa has been phenomenal offensively and on the mound since his arrival three weeks ago. Ryan Hackel made his debut on Sunday and proved to be a pivotal player in the team’s win against the odds at the table-topping Southampton Mustangs.

Zac Malone with the Fishers Tigers in 2010

The Falcons are just a game back on the playoff places. Will Zac Malone add to the team’s momentum? They can move into the playoff zone as early as this Sunday, 8 June, when they host the South London Pirates at Grovehill Ballpark in Hemel Hempstead. It will be a difficult task against a rejuvenated Pirates team. First pitch of the doubleheader is at 12pm.

Report by Daniel Levitt

In what has been a sullen start to the season until now, the Herts Falcons (2-6) took their sanguine spirits to the south coast on Sunday, to face the second placed Southampton Mustangs (6-2).

The Hertfordshire club has been ravaged by injuries in the first two months of the season, but provided a solid foundation for a recovery and a playoff push.    

Despite a slow start to their campaign, the Falcons’ playoff hopes were boosted leading up to the game, when the news broke that the team had signed Ryan Hackel, an American shortstop from Hamline University in Minnesota. Hackel will shore up the infield for the Falcons, while bringing a wealth of experience and baseball knowledge from across the pond. 

The hosts were heavily favoured prior to the day’s proceedings, who themselves are fighting for first place in the National Baseball League. However it was the duo of Jose Sosa and Phil Clarke (pictured right) who carried the Falcons home on this occasion, combining for four hits and six RBIs en route to an 8-4 victory. Herts scored three in the second inning and four in the fourth, enough run support to earn starting pitcher Abelardo Salas the victory. 

After a rocky start that saw Salas surrender four runs in the first, the Falcons’ ace blanked the Mustangs for the remainder of the game to earn the win, striking out seven along the way. The fantastic outing brought down his ERA to 3.77, who will now look to deflate that even further in the coming weeks. 

With Game 1 under their belts, the Falcons could not wait to get started with Game 2 and complete the sweep away from home.

Game 2 was a pitcher’s duel for the first five innings, between Gary Davison of the Mustangs and Herts’ very own Jose Sosa. Sosa, coming off his first NBL start against the Essex Arrows a fortnight ago, was every bit the magician for the first five innings, and had his team within striking distance, down 2-1 with two innings left.  

That however, was the end of a bright afternoon and the beginning of the floodgates opening, as the Mustangs scored five runs in the sixth and mitigated any chance of a sweep their counterparts had in mind. The Falcons fought valiantly as always, scoring two in the top of the seventh, but it ultimately wasn’t enough and the series ended 1-1. 

For Sosa, there were many positives to take from the game. Throwing the ball effortlessly for five innings, the Cuban struck out six and even collected a hit on offense, batting in the number three spot. 

The Falcons bring their playoff hopes back home to Hertfordshire this Sunday as they prepare to face the South London Pirates (2-6) at Grovehill Ballpark. With both teams on the cusp of the playoffs, this Sunday’s double header proves to be a must win series for both teams.  

Game 1 is due to start at 12.00pm, with Game 2 scheduled to start at 02.30pm.

Ryan Hackel (holding left corner of the banner) after winning the MIAC Championship with Hamlin University in 2011

Herts Falcons’ playoff hopes have received a boost with the acquisition of Ryan Hackel. He is a middle infielder and Herts fans will hope that he will be able to fill the void left after the departure of Robbie Unsell and Xavier Gonzalez who now play in the USA and Germany, respectively.

The 22-year-old started his baseball career at a very young age with Hard 90 Baseball Academy. In 2007 he moved on to Varsity Baseball, playing for three schools in four years – Vacaville Christian High School (2007), Vanden High School (2008) and Hastings High School (2009-2010).

In 2011 and 2012 Hackel moved on to College Baseball becoming the starting shortstop for Hamline University in his freshman year. 2011 was a memorable year in many ways as Hamline University went on to win the MIAC Championship for the first time in their history.

An interesting fact about Hamline University is that they play most of their home games at the 48,000-capacity Metrodome (pictured above), which is the former home of the Minnesota Twins. They have even had occasions when their games at that indoor arena have continued beyond midnight, as late as 2:30am in the morning.

A game under the lights for Hamline University and Ryan Hackel at the Metrodome

Hackel is expected to join the team shortly and this is very timely as the Falcons are looking to regain momentum after the squad was depleted by a series of injuries to Abel Salas, Cris Hiche, Mike Osborn, Ryan Bird and Tom Armstrong. Most of them are now gradually returning to full fitness and it will be interesting to see if the team can turn its season around. The race appears to be a lot closer this season so the Falcons are very much in touch with the playoff contenders. They travel to Southampton this Sunday, 1 June, for a doubleheader with the Mustangs and an opportunity to get straight back into the race.

report by Daniel Levitt

The season of freak injuries continued for the Herts Falcons as they took on the Essex Arrows in a double header at Grovehill Ballpark on Sunday.

They went into the game with a 1-3 record and few expected their depleted squad to pose a threat, but despite this, the Falcons came within six outs of causing a major upset.

The visitors to Grovehill jumped out to a four-run lead before their hosts could even step up to the plate. They didn’t let up, scoring all of their sixteen runs by the seventh inning. Despite a valiant effort to steady the ship from long-reliever Phillip Clark, who pitched three innings and gave up three earned runs in three innings, the damage had already been done.

There were some positives to take away from game one and they came from the bat of Jose Sosa, who launched a three-run home run as part of a two-hit game. Third baseman Jamie Gregory tacked on another home run, his first of the season, on his way to hitting 2-3 for the game.

The Falcons looked to start afresh in game two, with control on the pitcher’s mound the primary focus. After giving up a total of ten base-on-balls in game one, the duo of Sosa and Gregory swapped the bat for the ball and halved the walks to five in game two.

Sosa, making his first start of the season, was the subject of some kind words from Falcons Manager, Lee Manning: “Jose was fantastic in his first start. He crushed the ball and was exactly what the team needed after the first game”.

Jose Sosa greeted at home plate after hitting one of two homeruns against Essex (photo by Richard Lee richardleephotography.org)

The Falcons appeared to be on their way to a series split, leading 7-3 after five innings, however the curse struck again. Tom Armstrong collided with the outfield wall while attempting a spectacular outfield catch and, after a 45-minute delay to enable the ambulance to take him to the hospital, it was difficult for Sosa to restart his engine on the mound.

Gregory couldn’t stop the onslaught, resulting in a six-run sixth and nine-run seventh. Before they knew it, Manning’s team were looking up at an 18-7 deficit, and a seemingly impossible task to overturn. Just like that, Herts were on the wrong side of a series sweep, falling to 1-5 on the season.

Regarding the mounting injuries, Manning added, “the injuries are killing us, but the lads have played through the pain and we should have a few of the injured players back for the next game”.

Up next for the Falcons is a trip to the south coast, where they will play two games against the Southampton Mustangs, who sit atop of the NBL standings with a 5-1 record.