Category: Headlines

29 March 201529 March 2015 by Herts Baseball News Editor

HSL Week 2 Round-up: Hawks and Mavericks still unbeaten in the HSL

Bracknell vs Guildford survived the weather on Sunday but only for a few innings as the next wave of rain came in.

The weather affected some of the Herts Spring League games on Sunday, but those who managed to play their games this weekend took full advantage and we are starting to see the HSL standings take shape.

The Herts Hawks maintained their unbeaten record with a 24-14 win over the Milton Keynes Coyotes. This keeps them top of the HSL Double-A Standings. Similar to the Grapefruit and Cactus Leagues in America this is just a Spring Training (pre-season) competition so the standings do not carry that much weight, but for the Hawks their good form is a very positive sign ahead of the new season. They are notoriously slow starters and that has hampered their playoff hopes in the past. Could 2015 be their year?

The London Musketeers bounced back after their loss last week to pick up two good wins against Tonbridge (12-6) and Kent Mariners (13-12). This puts them second in the HSL Single-A standings, half a game behind the Guildford Mavericks who recorded their second HSL win albeit in a game which had to be called early due to bad weather and ground conditions on Sunday.

Tonbridge are a game behind the Mavericks after ending the day with a win over the Kent Mariners who are still in search of their first win. They will have a chance to end their losing streak next Saturday.

The eagerly anticipated clash between the Herts Falcons and the reigning NBL National Champions, Essex Arrows, fell victim to the weather on Sunday. Fans will have to wait until 10 May when the two teams will meet in an NBL doubleheader in Waltham Abbey.

The Metros will be back on Diamond 1 next Sunday to face the Royals

The final round of games in the Herts Spring League will be played next weekend, 4-5 April. The game which stands out is the repeat of the 2014 Triple-A National Final between the Cambridge Royals and the London Metros. The Royals came out on top last year to win the championship. The Metros will be keen to make a point despite that fact that we are still in Spring Training mode.

Apart from the games on Saturday, 4 April, fans can look forward to snacks and refreshments at the Grovehill Ballpark concessions as well as a wide variety of Herts and imported baseball merchandise at the club shop which will be open all day.

View HSL scoreboard and schedule

View HSL standings

27 March 2015 by Herts Baseball News Editor

2011 NBL MVP joins Herts Falcons

Edwin Alcantara with the NBL trophy in 2013

Edwin Alcantara has moved across the county border to join the Herts Falcons from the Essex Arrows with whom he became NBL National Champion last season.

Over the last four seasons Alcantara has been one of the most feared batters in the National Baseball League accumulating 9 home runs and 94 RBI in 290 at bats over that period. He spent his first three seasons in the NBL with the amazing Harlow Nationals winning three consecutive NBL titles between 2011 and 2013. In 2014 he moved to the Essex Arrows and made it four title wins in a row. Can he make it five consecutive NBL national championships in 2015, but this time with the Herts Falcons?

Photocall for Edwin Alcantara (right) and his Arrows teammates alongside Jerry Springer in 2009

2011 stands out as a phenomenal season for him. In that year he became the league’s MVP and won the triple crown, leading in home runs (6), hits (40) and runs batted in (33), as well as batting average (.482) and slugging average (1.086). This is a very rare achievement. We have to go back to 2005 when Simon Pole managed it playing for the London Warriors.

TEAM	SEASON	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BA	OBA	SLA
Harlow Nationals	2011	89	83	28	40	9	0	6	33	16	0.482	0.506	0.807
Harlow Nationals	2012	84	74	29	25	5	0	2	20	6	0.338	0.405	0.486
Harlow Nationals	2013	72	65	17	24	4	0	0	18	15	0.369	0.431	0.431
Essex Arrows	2014	78	68	20	24	4	1	1	23	5	0.353	0.41	0.485

TOTALS	4	323	290	94	113	22	1	9	94	42	0.390	0.440	0.566

Source: Project COBB

He has maintained his devastating offensive displays in the NBL consistently batting over .330 and slugging over .430 throughout his NBL career.

Edwin Alcantara’s defensive performances have also been recognised with the BBF’s equivalent of an outfield gold glove in 2011 and 2013.

Herts fans will have a chance to see him in the Herts Spring League before the NBL season opener on 12 April at Grovehill Ballpark.

23 March 201523 March 2015 by Herts Baseball News Editor

New signings make debuts on first weekend of the HSL

Mike Osborn was the starting pitcher for the Falcons against the London Metros

The first weekend of Herts Spring League games gave a glimpse of what we can expect from the 2015 British baseball season which commences on 12 April. However, after a hectic winter of players being transferred from one team to another and new players signing up, it is going to be difficult to make an accurate prediction of where teams will end up in the standings of the various league tiers.

The Herts Falcons faced the 2014 Triple-A Runners-up, the London Metros, in their opening HSL game. This was a first opportunity to see new signings Maikel Azcuy, Robbie Almanzar and Moises Vasquez play for Herts, who also fielded several players whose identities they chose not to disclose. The game also saw the return from injury of centerfielder Cris Hiche and pitcher Louis Hare. The Falcons took an early lead and held on to it despite a brave fight back by the Metros to bring the score to 14-11. It was Maikel Azcuy who took the game beyond the Londoners with a 3-run home run in the eighth inning.

In another highly anticipated game, the 2014 NBL Champions, Essex Arrows, faced the Triple-A Champions, Cambridge Royals. In a closely fought game the Arrows won 4-1, but it is becoming evident that the gap between the top tier and the Triple-A is narrowing. The hope is that the BBF will promote more Triple-A teams as part of an overdue expansion of the NBL. In this game Jorge Machado made his debut for the NBL Champions after his move from the Southern Nationals in the offseason.

In their other game the Royals faced the London Mammoths who will be the newest member of the Triple-A League after being awarded promotion by the BBF. The Mammoths will be very pleased with their performance. They held a 3-0 lead after 3 innings. The Royals fought back to win the game 5-4. Later in the day the Mammoths won 6-2 against Brighton who will also be making their Triple-A debut this year. The team from the South coast fielded a mix of their Triple-A and Single-players but they still managed to defeat the MK Bucks who are always difficult to beat. It didn’t get any easier for the Bucks as they suffered another defeat later in the day against the Essex Arrows.

The Haverhill Blackjacks slugged their way to a victory over the Cambridge Monarchs

In the Double-A division of the HSL the Herts Hawks lead the standings after wins against Tonbridge and London Marauders. Haverhill Blackjacks are half a game behind after their win against the Cambridge Monarchs. In the Single-A division, Guildford are ahead following their exciting 15-13 win over the London Musketeers. Herts Raptors beat Kent Mariners and lost to Tonbridge to put themselves in the group of four teams which are half a game behind the Mavericks.

Click to view HSL scoreboard and schedule

Click to view HSL Standings

The HSL games resume next weekend. The game of the day is expected to be the all-NBL clash between the Essex Arrows and the Herts Falcons at Grovehill Ballpark.

20 March 201520 March 2015 by Herts Baseball News Editor

Catcher Omar Vallenilla joins Herts

Omar Vallenilla (left) meeting Carlos Casal, one of many Venezuelans playing for Herts

The club has confirmed that it has added Omar Vallenilla. The 23-year-old comes from Venezuela, where he played for the Capital District team at Under-16 league level.

He has since moved to the United Kingdom and he is looking forward to restarting his baseball career with Herts. Vallenilla is a catcher but can cover other positions.

This is another in the long list of Venezuelan players to wear the Herts uniform over the years.

19 March 2015 by Herts Baseball News Editor

Herts looking for paid baseball coaches

Earlier this month Herts Baseball Club announced plans for the expansion of the Club. As part of this, the Club plans to invest into coaching and various other projects thanks to programmes such as London Sport and Herts Sports Partnership’s Satellite Clubs. This is opening up a number of opportunities for coaches from around the United Kingdom and other countries to get involved in this development and earn self-employed income at the same time. There are projects which last just a few days or a week, and others which cover several weeks or the full baseball season.

Furthermore, there are various other non-coaching roles including communications director, game day venue manager, public announcer and others.

For a full list of the projects and roles which the club is looking to fill (click here).

If you require further details, please contact us.

18 March 2015 by Herts Baseball News Editor

Tough draw for Herts teams in the BBF Cup First Round

This article first appeared on britishbaseball.org

The BBF has announced further details and first round draws for their new knock-out Cup competitions in 2015 – competitions they hope will add interest to the season and draw fans from different areas to watch games between teams that don’t normally play against each other.

The 2015 BBF Cup will be played as two separate competitions – one in the South for NBL and Triple-A South teams and one in the Midlands and the North for Triple-A and Double-A teams in those regions.

All Cup games will be played over nine innings.

BBF CUP: SOUTH

NBL and Triple-A teams from the South will compete in a knock-out competition held over three rounds followed by a final. Round 1 will be held on Sunday 26 April, and the draw has created the following match-ups:

Herts Falcons at London Metros (11.00 am)

Oxford Kings at London Mammoth (2.30 pm)

Bracknell Blazers at Herts Eagles (1.00 pm)

South London Pirates at Richmond Knights (12.00 pm)

Brighton Bulldogs at Essex Redbacks (12.00 pm)

Quarter-finals will be held on Sunday 21 June when the winners of the first-round matches will then be joined by the top three NBL teams from last season: the champions Essex Arrows plus the London Mets and Southampton Mustangs. Semi-finals will be held on Sunday 9 August, when the quarter-final winners will battle for a place in the BBF Southern Cup final. The final itself will be played on Sunday 20 September, though the venue is still to be decided.

BBF CUP: CENTRAL & NORTH

Meanwhile, a parallel knock-out Cup competition will be held in the Central and North regions, with each club submitting one team into the contest. The first two rounds of play will split into regional pools to minimise travel requirements before the competition hots up at the quarter-final stage with inter-pool play. Teams will be seeded based on league positions last season, with the first round effectively being a wild card match-up between the four lowest-ranked clubs from the North before the remaining teams join in the subsequent rounds. This first round will take place on Sunday 12 April with the following games:

Harrogate Tigers at Bolton Robots of Doom (12.00 pm)

Oldham North Stars at Manchester A’s (12.00 pm)

The winners of these two fixtures will then join Cartmel Valley, Liverpool Trojans, Hull Scorpions, Halton Jaguars, Newton Aycliffe Spartans and Sheffield Bladerunners in the second round scheduled for Sunday 3 May. In the Central pool, second round match-ups featuring Birmingham Bandits, Leicester Blue Sox, Long Eaton Storm, Milton Keynes Bucks, Northants Centurions and Stourbridge Titans will also be scheduled for Sunday 3 May. The reigning Triple-A Champions Cambridge Royals will get a bye in this round and enter at the quarter-final stage. The quarter-finals, to be played on Sunday 23 May, will be an open draw, but each fixture will incorporate a Central v North match-up. Two of the quarter-finals will be hosted by Central teams and two will be hosted by North teams. The winners of each quarter-final will progress to a finals weekend on 6-7 June.

18 March 201518 March 2015 by Herts Baseball News Editor

The Ward Dynasty

Gary Ward (right) working with Maikel Azcuy in Spring Training this month

Herts Baseball Club has just added a second member of the Ward family. British baseball legend Darrin Ward has been a fan-favourite for many years. He is preparing for his eighth season as a Herts player. Herts fans can now look forward to seeing his nephew, Gary Ward, in a Herts jersey.

So far in his career he has played for the Croydon Pirates and the Kent Mariners in the BBF Leagues progressing from Single-A to Triple-A.

He has also played in the British University Baseball Leagues for the University of East Anglia with whom he won the 2009 University Fall Cup, held at Grovehill Ballpark (pictured above, front row first from right to left).

Gary is only 24 and it will be interesting to see how he will progress over the next few seasons. He has looked very good so far in Spring Training and as a switch-hitter he will give Herts coaches extra options to deploy against opponents this season.

17 March 201518 March 2015 by Herts Baseball News Editor

Repair of vandalised areas at Grovehill Ballpark to commence with support from Herts County Councillors

Herts Baseball Club has received support from Hertfordshire County Councillors in its project to repair the vandalised areas at Grovehill Ballpark.

Over the last few years Herts Baseball Club suffered some severe vandalism causing damage to fencing including outfield, perimeter fencing and dugouts. The cost of repair amounts to several thousand pounds, which means that club cash reserves set aside for development projects will need to be redirected towards repairing the vandalised areas.

A recent application by Herts Baseball Club to the Hertfordshire Locality Budget Scheme has been successful and Councillors Ian Reay, Richard Roberts and Andrew Williams have contributed a total of £1,000 from their Locality budgets to support this project.

“We are grateful to all the Councillors for supporting this project and for being so helpful throughout this process” said club president, Aspi Dimitrov. He added that “the club is confident that the project will deliver enormous value to the community”.

The club invited companies to bid for the contract. This process was completed a few weeks ago and the project is expected to commence in the next few weeks with projected completion date between 27 March and 11 April 2015, which would be just in time for the 2015 league opening day on 12 April.

The club has been receiving support from the Hertfordshire Constabulary to reduce risks of future vandalism and will also be working closely with the local community around Grovehill to achieve this.

14 March 2015 by Herts Baseball News Editor

Countdown to HSL – first chance to see the teams ahead of the 2015 British baseball season

The biggest pre-season baseball competition in Britain is back. Commencing on March 21, the Herts Spring League (HSL) will see 20 teams compete over the 3 weeks of the HSL. Organised by Herts Baseball Club, it is Britain’s very own version of MLB’s Grapefruit and Cactus Leagues currently under way in the US, and it signals that the season is just around the corner.

FORMAT

The 20 teams will be entered into three HSL tiers. The top teams in the country from the National Baseball League and Triple-A Leagues will play in the HSL Majors. The HSL-AA is the second tier of the Herts Spring League. It will feature predominantly British Double-A League teams. The third tier is the HSL-A consisting mainly of Single-A teams.

The organisers considered the possibility of a tournament format, but ultimately adopted a league format in the same way as the Grapefruit and Cactus Leagues in MLB. “The objective of the HSL is to enable the teams to prepare for the new season and we have noticed that teams are increasingly starting to approach the HSL in the same way as MLB teams approach the Grapefruit and Cactus Leagues” said HSL Commissioner, Aspi Dimitrov. He added “we have taken this into account when formulating the schedule putting greater emphasis on the preferences and requirements of the teams over the format of the competition”.

The teams finishing at the top of their respective division will win the HSL. The “games-back” column in the standings will be critical, but undoubtedly some teams will end up with the same record and so it may go down to the number of runs conceded per game to break the tie.

THE VENUES

The action will take place at Grovehill Ballpark in Hemel Hempstead and Town Mead Ballpark in Waltham Abbey, the home of the Essex Arrows and Essex Archers.

SCHEDULE

32 games are scheduled to be played on the three diamonds. The competition begins on March 21 with a clash between the Herts Raptors and the Kent Mariners in the HSL-A bracket. The HSL-AA and HSL Majors divisions commence 24 hours later when the 2014 Triple-A National Champions, Cambridge Royals, face the Double-A National Champions, London Mammoths, which secured their promotion to the Triple-A League this year.

Click to view full 2015 HSL schedule

EXCITEMENT BUILDING UP

The Herts Spring League adds a competitive edge to Spring training. It’s the time for managers to work out their winning formula going into the BBF league season. It is an opportunity to evaluate existing and newly recruited players – which players will earn a spot in the pitching rotation and who will be batting where in the batting order? Who will make the first team and who will have to work their way up with the minor league teams? Not forgetting, it’s a chance to size up your rivals for the year ahead. It’s the first big challenge and the first big excitement of the baseball year. Don’t miss it.

GET IN THE GAME

For more details about the event or if you are interested to give baseball a try in this competition contact Herts Baseball Club.

13 March 2015 by Herts Baseball News Editor

20 teams will signal the arrival of Spring in the 2015 HSL

Herts Baseball Club has confirmed that 20 teams have entered this year’s Herts Spring League (HSL). The teams come from all British baseball leagues including the National Baseball League (NBL), Triple-A, Double-A, Single-A Leagues.

The HSL teams will be divided into three divisions as follows:

HSL – MAJORS
TEAM	CLASS	HSL RANKING
Cambridge Royals	AAA	3
Essex Arrows	NBL	1
Herts Eagles	AAA	7
Herts Falcons	NBL	2
London Mammoths	AAA	6
London Metros	AAA	4
Milton Keynes Bucks	AAA	5

HSL – AA
TEAM	CLASS	HSL RANKING
Brighton	AAA/A	2
Cambridge Monarchs	AA	5
Haverhill Blackjacks	A	4
Herts Hawks	A	6
London Marauders	AA	3
Sidewinders	AA	1

HSL – A
TEAM	CLASS	HSL RANKING
Bracknell Inferno	A	6
Guildford Mavericks	A	5
Herts Raptors	A	7
Kent Mariners	A	4
London Musketeers	A	1
Milton Keynes Coyotes	AA	2
Tonbridge	A	3

SCHEDULE AND FORMAT

The HSL will be played over three weeks commencing on the weekend of 21 and 22 March and ending on 4 and 5 April. The HSL format and games schedule are expected to be announced shortly and hertsbaseball.com will bring this and all other HSL news as they happen.