Cris Hiche greeted at home after his grand slam which started an almighty comeback (photo by Richard Lee richardleephotography.org)

If the Opening Day games between the Herts Falcons and the London Mets are an indicator of what is to come this season, fans of British baseball would be advised to buckle up as we are in for a wild ride. The games had everything – incredible comebacks, home runs, gutsy pitching performances, heroic plays, heavy collisions and more.

Usually batters take a little longer to get back up to full speed after the winter offseason and pitchers hold the advantage in the first few weeks of the season, but that was turned on its head as hitting dominated throughout despite facing some of the best pitchers from the 2013 season. The starters in game one were Mike Osborne for Herts (6-0 and ERA 1.12 in 2013) and Sam Sproule for London (1-1, ERA 1.91 in 2013), but batters didn’t appear too concerned about those numbers. The Mets took an early 10-2 lead although it must be pointed out that most of these were unearned runs as the Falcons’ new look defence was still finding its feet. “It will take a little more time for us to tune up our defence after losing several key players who moved overseas” said Falcons manager Lee Manning. The Mets conceded an average of 3.36 runs per game last season so it would have been a natural reaction for Herts heads to drop and accept defeat. It was also interesting to see how the squad would react to such a score line. With so many new faces and a much lower average age there was a risk that there would be a negative effect on confidence and team spirit, but that wasn’t the case. In the bottom of the third inning Herts showed that they cannot be written off under any circumstance. A grand slam home run by Cris Hiche to centerfield, 2-run double by Jamie Gregory and a sacrifice fly by Carlos Casal Jr, brought in 7 runs reducing the deficit to 1 run. In the fifth inning a towering 2-run home run by 2013 NBL MVP, Ryan Bird, hits by Abel Salas, Darrin Ward and a sacrifice fly by Dave Tretheway gave Falcons a 13-11 lead.

The Mets responded in a big way not only to come back from this but to build an unassailable lead winning the game 23-13. This included a home run by Martin Tucker and a very scary moment when London outfielders Jonathan Cramman and Josh Saunders made a brave attempt to make a diving catch which resulted in a very serious collision requiring a 10-minute delay while treating both players. Thankfully, both managed to recover and seemed in good shape by the end of the day. There was also an injury to Ryan Bird which seemed innocuous but which may take him more time to recover from. The Falcons had to go into the second game without Bird as he had to be taken out of the lineup.

Abel Salas was the starting pitcher for Herts in game two and he went the distance. The Mets took an early 6-0 lead which included a grand slam home run by Zach Stroman, but from that point Salas was in control of the game and produced a battling performance which gave his team the opportunity to win. To do this, they needed their offence to get back into the game against the London Mets’ best pitcher of 2013, Pietro Sollecito. They responded with 4 runs in the bottom of the first and 3 in the second inning to take a 7-6 lead and added an eighth run in the third inning. The Mets came back to tie it at 8-8 in the fifth only for Herts to retake the lead in the bottom of that inning with 3 more runs. With darkness gradually setting in, both teams knew that the game can be called at any moment so the Falcons needed to keep that lead at any cost. The Mets scored two in the top of the sixth inning but Abel Salas produced two key strikeouts in the final inning to end the game stranding London’s tying run at third base and securing a win for Herts.

“After such an outstanding comeback in the first game we felt that we missed a good opportunity, but we showed character to respond in the second game especially as the team had to do it without the injured Ryan Bird and it is a positive sign that we have players who can step up in difficult situations with the game on the line” said Herts Falcons Manager, Lee Manning.

Over the last few weeks the Herts Baseball Club front office has been opening mailboxes with trepidation in anticipation of bad news. A final confirmation of that news came a week or so ago. During the winter period the big clubs in Europe have been holding negotiations with the Herts Falcons 2013 MVP, Xavi Gonzalez. The paperwork has been received and the Falcons shortstop will be wearing the colours of the Stuttgart Reds in 2014.

The 24-year-old Venezuelan joined Herts 12 months ago and played a key role in the very successful 2013 season for the Falcons which saw the team finish top in the regular season standings for the first time in the club’s history, with a winning percentage of .857. His outstanding fielding ability was recognised by the league awarding him the NBL Gold Glove at shortstop. There aren’t many 5-tool players in the world and Gonzalez is one of them. His batting average was .411 and slugging average .712 with 3 home runs which made him the joint-team leader in that category. Defensively he committed only 2 errors. We can add his speed to that with 13 stolen bases.

As one of the best players in the NBL last season it will be difficult for the Falcons to replace a player like Xavi Gonzalez, but this means that there is an opportunity for someone to take his spot in the lineup and become a star just like him. The Opening Day clash with the London Mets is just a few days away so it will be interesting to see who will play in the shortstop position this Sunday.

“Everyone in the club will miss Xavi not just because of his baseball ability, but we will also miss him as a person and because of what he brought off the field” said club president, Aspi Dimitrov. He added: “There aren’t many players who would make a 4-hour round trip from Bournemouth every week for games and training sessions”.

Gonzalez is expected to make his debut for the Stuttgart Reds in the Germand Bundesliga this Sunday at 12pm UK time in their Opening Day game against Heidenheim Heideköpfe. The Reds finished fifth in the South Division with a .500 winning percentage.

So does this transaction carry any significance in terms of the long-term prospects for growth and development of Herts Baseball Club and the British baseball league as a whole? Does this mean that clubs like Herts cannot compete with teams in the Netherlands, Germany and Italy due to their financial superiority? Will all of Britain’s rising stars end up playing under similar professional or semi-professional contracts in these countries? A few years ago the answers to these questions would probably have been pessimistic, but there are signs of a shift in direction in the UK. There is a buzz around the leagues right now and obvious signs that clubs are starting to realize that there is potential to grow the sport and secure a market share similar to the British ice hockey and basketball professional leagues. Front offices are beginning to approach the running of their clubs as a business generating extra income which is then quickly reinvested into baseball infrastructure, grassroots development and promoting the game in the community.

“We are very optimistic that in the next few years we will be able to turn the table and compete financially with the big European leagues. The traffic of players will change direction and we hope that we will be able to see Xavi back in a Herts jersey. This gives us one more reason to push even harder” said Dimitrov.

 

Great Britain Under-19 National Team third baseman and right-handed pitcher, Jamie Gregory, has joined Herts. He is the third big signing for the club after Abelardo Salas and Andrew Fulford joined this Spring.

Gregory started his career with the Essex Redbacks as a member of their Under-17 league team. At the age of 16 he was already a member of the Redbacks first team making his debut in the Triple-A League which is the second league tier in British baseball. His talent was recognised early by the Great Britain National Team and he was added to the GB Under-19 squad with whom he took part in the tour of South Africa.

The six-feet-three-inch righty made his debut in the National Baseball League in 2013 with the Essex Arrows. He was utilised as a relief pitcher but played predominantly at third base. He had a batting average of .261 and a slugging average of .333, driving in 12 runs.

Gregory is 18-years-old and it is an exciting prospect for Herts fans to see how this young talent will develop both as a member of Herts and with the Great Britain National Team. “I greatly look forward to joining such a well established and ever growing baseball club as Herts” said Gregory.

He is expected to make his debut in the Herts Spring League pre-season games which commence on 22 and 23 March.

 

Herts have confirmed another player acquisition as they prepare for the 2014 baseball season. Andrew Fulford hit the headlines in 2012 when he helped the Herts Hawks reach the Double-A National Championship Semi-Final. He will be back in a Herts uniform again this year.

During the 2012 season the Herts’ coaching staff had a difficult decision to make. Should they add him to the Herts Falcons roster in the National Baseball League or to one of the club’s minor league teams? With only a few more games remaining for the Herts Falcons, Fulford would not have been able to meet the postseason requirement of playing in 45% of the Falcons’ regular season games. However, the 45% requirement does not apply at Double-A League level and there were sufficient number of games left for Fulford to meet the 20% postseason eligibility. On the basis of this the coaches decided to add the American to the Hawks roster. The team was in the middle of an almighty playoff battle with the Sidewinders, London Mammoths and the Daws Hill Spitfires. He proved to be a key player for the team as they surprised everyone going all the way to the National Semi-Finals where they lost to the eventual winners, Nottingham.

In the five games which he played for Herts in 2012, Fulford hit two home runs and had .571 batting average, 1.214 slugging average, .682 on-base average, with 15 runs batted in. He also proved to be one of the outstanding catchers in the league throwing out 5 out of 12 stolen base attempts.

Hawks fans will be hoping that Andrew Fulford will be able to appear for the Hawks, but this is highly unlikely. Fulford is expected to go into the Falcons roster, especially as the Falcons have several vacant spots in the lineup which they need to fill.

Andrew Fulford is 23-years-old. His primary position is catcher. He has also played in second base, and can fit pretty much anywhere else in the field. He started playing when he was 4. After spending his early years in the Citrus Park Little League, Fulford went on to play for the varsity team at Sickles High School and later with Cambridge High School finishing as Florida Sate runners-up in 2009. During his career he has played under former MLB players Jody Reed, who played as second basemen for the Boston Red Sox, and Sam Marsonek who was a pitcher with the New York Yankees.

Fulford comes from Tampa, Florida, but his wife is from Hemel Hempstead so he will be in the UK available for selection for certain weeks over the course of the season. He may be eligible to play for the Great Britain national team and it will be interesting to see whether he will be able to attract interest from the GB national team coaches in time for the European Championships in September.

Mets vs Falcons on Opening Day – Robbie Unsell may have returned to America, but he is only a transatlantic flight away from Grovehill Ballpark (photo by Will Baxter)

(this article by Joe Gray was first published on britishbaseball.org)

Southampton Mustangs @ Harlow Nationals

Opening Day in the National Baseball League (NBL) on 6 April will see the Southern Nationals and Southampton Mustangs continuing where they left off last season, with the national finalists from 2013 squaring off in a double-header at Farnham Park.

The Nationals are shooting for a record-breaking fourth consecutive national title, having become the first club in British baseball history to win national titles in each of their first three seasons. But they will be doing so without talisman Will Lintern, the most successful active player in the British game, with six national titles to his name. Will is competing this year for Hove Tuesday in AAA South.

The Mustangs recently completed the most exciting off-season transaction to date, picking up catcher Jose Lopez, who reached the AAA level in his professional career in North America. Southampton will be hoping they now have the final piece in place to claim a first-ever national title for the South Coast city.

London Mets @ Herts Falcons

In another mouth-watering match-up, the Herts Falcons and London Mets, first and second seeds from 2013, will resume their rivalry on Opening Day. The teams played out several nail-biting contests in a closely-fought battle for the league title last season. The Mets were propelled by a league-leading seven wins on the mound for Pietro Sollecito, but the Falcons held off their charge to claim a first-ever NBL pennant.

The Falcons retain Ryan Bird, the league’s Most Valuable Batter from last season, but have lost Robbie Unsell, winner of the Most Valuable Pitcher award, who has returned to the States. However, their roster is strengthened by the recently-announced addition of Abel Salas, a left-handed hitter from Mexico, who previously played for the Mildenhall Bulldogs.

Bracknell Blazers @ Essex Arrows

The Bracknell Blazers and Essex Arrows – fifth and sixth seeds respectively in last season’s play-offs – are paired up in the third and final double-header on Opening Day. Both teams might feel that they need to be sweeping match-ups like this one to have a chance of figuring in the 2014 playoff picture. The Blazers are competing in the top tier for a league-leading 17th straight season.

The South London Pirates, entering their 16th season of top-flight baseball, have a rest week on 6 April in what will be a seven-team league this season. The Essex Redbacks have moved to AAA South and the Lakenheath Diamondbacks will play this year in the newly created AAA Central Division.

 

It has been exactly 20 weeks since the 1-run semi-final defeat to the Harlow Nationals in the 2013 National Championships and Herts baseball fans still feel the pain. The best way to bring the energy back into the club is to unveil a big player signing and that’s exactly what Herts have done this evening.

Abel Salas will be joining the Herts Falcons for the 2014 NBL season. He plays in the Left Field, First Base and Pitcher positions. He pitches and bats left handed adding to a Falcons batting line-up packed with hard-hitting lefties such as Ryan Bird, Phil Clark and Dave Tretheway.

35-year-old Salas is from Mexico and has previously played in the NBL for the Mildenhall Bulldogs during the 2011 season. In that year he had a batting average of .405 and slugging average of .568, with 12 runs batted in and only 2 strikeouts in 37 at bats. He also picked up 7 stolen bases.*

As a pitcher, in 22 and 2/3 innings of work he had an ERA of 4.76 with a record of 1 win and 2 losses, 2 complete games, striking out 19 batters (7.5 strikeouts per 9 innings).* 

When he joins up with the players shortly there will be familiar face for Salas as he will be reunited with his 2011 Mildehall Bulldogs teammate, John Blose, who joined Herts last year.

The NBL teams are preparing for the new season and the next two months are critical as everyone looks to strengthen ahead of Opening day on 6 April. Will the balance of power in the NBL shift in 2014? We will keep you updated as soon as Herts make any further announcements.

* – NBL statistics courtesy of Project COBB