Category: Headlines

2012 Championship-deciding games will be held at Grovehill Ballpark in Herts

Cody Cain and Mike Osborn with the NBL Championship trophy back in 2010. Who will lift it on 27 August at Grovehill Ballpark?

The British Baseball Federation has announced that the 2012 National Baseball Championships (NBC), which is the showpiece event in the British baseball calendar, will be staged at Grovehill Ballpark in Hemel Hempstead.

The event will feature the games which will decide the Champions in all four British Baseball senior leagues. In a change from previous seasons, the event will be held over three days during the August Bank Holiday weekend on 25, 26 and 27 August 2012 with 13 games to be played in the different leagues, or perhaps even 14 games, if a game 7 is required to decide the NBL Champion.

Grovehill Ballpark is the home of Herts Baseball Club. It is considered to be the premier baseball venue in the United Kingdom with two purpose-built baseball diamonds. This is the third consecutive year that the NBCs will be held in Herts. Similar to last year the GB National Teams programme will be running the event and funds raised will go towards funding the GB Programme.

Since last year’s NBC an additional £17,000 has been invested into upgrading Grovehill Ballpark thanks to a £10,000 grant from BSUK’s capital facility funding from Sport England and additional £7,000 raised by Herts Baseball Club through various fundraising projects. Both diamonds are now fully enclosed and feature four fully enclosed team dugouts, for the home and visiting teams on each of the two diamonds.

The Herts Falcons have already booked their place in the National Baseball League bracket of the NBC. The Herts Hawks will be hoping to join them in the AA League bracket. To do this they will need to overcome the Guildford Mavericks this Sunday.

A total of 18 teams will go into playoff battle along with the Hawks this Sunday, 19 August. The schedule is shown below. The 9 winners will secure a place in the NBCs.

(A) London Marauders @ Hove Tuesday, 12:00, Pavilion Field, Brighton

(A) Birmingham Maple Leafs @ Leicester Blue Sox, 12:00, Leicester

(AA) Herts Hawks @ Guildford Mavericks, 12:00, Broadwater School, Guildford

(AA) Sidewinders @ Poole Piranhas, 12:00, Poole

(AA) Milton Keynes Bucks @ Sheffield Bladerunners, 12:00, Sheffield

(AA) Harrogate Tigers @ Nottingham Rebels, 12:00, Nottingham

(AAA) Menwith Hill Patriots @ Liverpool Trojans 12:00, Liverpool

(AAA) Bristol Badgers @ Cambridge Royals, 12:00, Grovehill Ballpark, Herts

(NBL) Lakenheath Diamondbacks @ London Mets, 12:00, Finsbury Park

 

Hawks storm into the Playoff quarter-finals

The Herts Hawks are through to the next round of the AA Playoffs. The convincing victory over the Southampton Mustangs was achieved with another solid defensive performance and a display of power-hitting which is coming at the right time.

Nick Russell started on the mound for the home team. He has had an outstanding season winning all of his starts (4-0) and in all of these games he went the distance. But even he is allowed a few postseason nerves. Two walks and two hits gave the Mustangs an early lead in the top of the first. Two fielding errors by his teammates in that opening inning didn’t help and the Hawks found themselves trailing 3-0. Sometimes conceding 3 runs in a low-scoring postseason game can prove to be too much to overcome so the Hawks needed to respond quickly.

Herts Hawks are into the Playoffs and this is not a time to be sitting down

They exploded with 7 runs in the bottom of the first inning which included a 2-run homerun by co-manager, Andy Cornish, over the left-centerfield wall.

Any anxiety which Herts may have had was no longer there from that point forward. Nick Russell was on his brilliant best for the rest of the game which he completed allowing only 1 more run to score.

Clcik for more photos form the game

Everyone in the Herts batting lineup contributed offensively to record the team’s highest-scoring win of the season. Rod Naghar (2-3 2B), Greg Bochan (3-5 4RBI), Louis Hare, (2-4 RBI) all had a multi-hit game. Jonathan Lewys had 4 RBI (1-4), but it was Andrew Fulford who was the outstanding batter for the Hawks. He hit 4-for-4 which included a double and a home run which went out of the park close to the left field foul pole interrupting the Herts Falcons vs Milton Keynes Bucks exhibition game taking place on the adjacent diamond.

“In my final at bat I was trying to hit a triple to complete the cycle, but had to hold up at first base for a single” said Fulford, who had another good defensive performance as catcher. He threw out another runner at second and over the season has had a 60% success rate of throwing our runners.

The final score of 28-4 was probably a little unkind on the visitors, who deserve a lot of credit for giving 100% effort right to the end.

Click to view box scores and play-by-play

Andy Cornish's slugging average is rising fast after extra-base hits over the last two weeks, including a home run today

Hawks co-manager, Andy Cornish, said: “I think that today we played well. We still have a lot to do, and every game is now a cup game. We look forward to playing in the next round and I really think that we can build on today’s batting performance, and give any team a tough game”.

At the time of writing this report results from the other three Playoff games were still coming in. The Guildford Mavericks beat the Daws Hill Spitfires 12-4. Poole Piranhas eliminated the London Mammoths 11-1. The Sidewinders game versus the Croydon Pirates was still in progress and the outcome of that game will determine whether the Hawks will meet Guildford or Poole in the quarter-finals. The Sidewinders are the team in form and if they win then Herts will play against the favourites Guildford this Sunday, 19 August. We will announce the details as soon as the quarter-final lineup is confirmed.

 

The drama of the postseason is about to begin and all 8 Herts teams will play a part

Kimiyoshi Saionji (number 55) celebrating a home run for the Falcons
2012 is turning out to be one of the most exciting in Herts Baseball Club’s history. We are about to go into the most thrilling part of the 2012 baseball season and Herts teams will be right in the thick of all the action. Four Herts teams have qualified for the postseason playoffs to decide the national champions in the various senior and youth leagues, which is a club record.
Right from the start of the season the Falcons set out to capture the NBL trophy currently held by the Harlow Nationals. They are currently in second place in the NBL and in a good position going into the postseason.
The Herts Hawks clinched a place in the AA Playoffs and tomorrow they begin their postseason campaign with an elimination game at home versus Southampton.
Herts supporters in the visitors' end at the 2010 Under-14 National Championships Final which finished Herts 2 London 1
The Herts U17 and U14 teams also reached the playoffs in their respective leagues. They are eagerly awaiting the announcement by the BBF which will confirm their opponents in the playoffs.
The Herts Eagles and the Herts Raptors put up one hell of a fight in the Single-A League but just missed out on the playoffs. Both teams had a winning season (win-loss % of .500 or above) which is an astonishing performance compared to the previous few seasons for Herts in the A-League. They may be out of the postseason but they too can look forward to the Hunlock Series in September and October, which is arguably the most enjoyable event of the baseball season for everyone connected with Herts.
Here is a run-down of the events not to be missed in August, September and October.
DATE
EVENT
HERTS TEAM(S) INVOLVED
VENUE
Aug 12
AA Playoffs
Herts Hawks vs Southampton
Grovehill Ballpark
Aug 19
AA Playoffs
Winner of Herts Hawks and Southampton rogress
TBC
Aug 25-27
Natioal Baseball Championships (Senior Leagues)
Herts Falcons (confirmed)
Herts Hawks (subject to outcome of Playoffs)
Awaiting announcement from BBF
Sep 8
U17 and U14 Playoffs
Herts U17 (confirmed)
Herts U14 (confirmed)
Awaiting announcement from BBF
Sep 15-16
Natioal Baseball Championships (U17 and U14 Leagues)
Herts U17 (subject to outcome of Playoffs)
Herts U14 (subject to outcome of Playoffs)
Awaiting announcement from BBF
Sep 22
Herts Futures Tournament
All Herts youth teams will play in the largest youth baseball tournament on the British Baseball calendar, hosted by Herts
Grovehill Ballpark
Sep 16*, 23, 30, Oct 7, Oct 14*
Hunlock Series
All Herts adult and U17 team players drafted into teams live on the Herts TV Channel to battle it out for the Hunclock Series over 4 weekends.
Grovehill Ballpark

 

* – depends on Herts U17 progress in the Playoffs.

Herts Hawks enter unchartered waters as AA Playoffs begin this Sunday

The British Baseball Federation (BBF) has announced the lineup for the first round of the AA League Playoffs for the top teams in the two southern divisions. 8 teams will clash in 4 elimination games this Sunday, 12 August 2012, (postseason seeding shown in brackets).

Croydon Pirates III (8) @ Sidewinders (3), Venue: Enfield

Southampton Mustangs II (7) @ Herts Hawks (4), Venue: Grovehill Ballpark, Herts

London Mammoths (5) @ Poole Piranhas (2), Venue: Poole

Daws Hill Spitfires (6) @ Guildford Mavericks (1), Venue: Guildford

Herts are represented by the Herts Hawks who secured favourable seeding and home field advantage last weekend with a sweep in the doubleheader against direct Playoff rivals, Daws Hill Spitfires. Their opponents this Sunday will be the Southampton Mustangs who finished third in the very difficult Pool A where Poole and Guildford have dominated all year long.

Southampton’s roster features players with NBL experience including first baseman Simon Barnes, pitchers Dave Wrigley and James Norman among others. In fact Norman has already played in a postseason game at Grovehill Ballpark back in 2004. He was wearing the Bournemouth Sharks jersey at that time and faced the Herts Falcons in a memorable game which the Falcons came back from behind to win 9-8 with a walk-off run driven in by John del Borrello in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Many of Herts’ teams have played in the postseason at various league levels, however this will be the first time that the Herts Hakws will appear in a postseason game. They will go into Sunday’s game with a 5-game winning streak and will also have the advantage of playing at their home, Grovehill Ballpark, in Hemel Hempstead. The game will start at 12pm.

 

Hawks continue winning streak to book place into Playoffs

The Herts Hawks went on a mission at RAF Daws Hill and they executed it with military precision. They went into the doubleheader at the Daws Hill Spitfires knowing that anything less than two wins would push them into third or even fourth place in the standings giving them the toughest possible route through the playoffs and losing home field advantage. There was no room for error.

The visitors from Hertfordshire took a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Aspi Dimitrov and Louis Hare got on base with singles and Jon Lewys forced an error from the Spitfires defence to bring both of them home. Daws Hill responded by loading the bases with 1 out but probably felt disappointed that they could only bring one run home in that inning. Starting pitcher and Co-Manager, Greg Bochan, was now in the zone and he allowed only 1 hit and no runs over the next 3 innings. In the fourth inning Herts took control adding 4 more runs to make the score 6-1. There was a glimmer of hope for the Spitfires when they scored 3 runs in the fifth inning reducing the deficit to 7-4. Their rally was ended as catcher Andrew Fulford started firing bullets to gun down two Daws Hill runners at first and second base.

A software error while scoring the game left the Hawks under the impression that they were in the seventh and final inning of that first game when they had only played six, so the hosts were a little baffled to see the visitors leave their bench area for celebratory hugs and high-fives on the infield. Minor errors like this can sometimes put a major jinx on a team as they can spur an opponent into action, but the Hawks added 3 more runs to record a 10-4 win.

The final out came after the umpire judged that a runner had obstructed shortstop Louis Hare from making a routine throw for the final out and that was the right decision, but in a tense game with so much to lose it must have been hard to take for the home team and a number of their players vented their frustration by confronting the umpire. The confrontation became so fiery that there was a real concern that the players may lose control, but the umpire showed a lot of character and managed the situation very professionally. Credit also goes to one or two of the Daws Hill players who took control of the situation with some very stern words aimed at the players who had completely lost their heads. The incident proved to be very costly for the Spitfires as their first baseman and shortstop were ejected. In the AA League the umpires are usually affiliated with the home team so ejecting 2 players in such an important game must have taken a lot of courage but it was the right decision.

Click to view game 1 box scores and play-by-play

The Spitfires were still in with a chance of overtaking Herts in the standings and finishing second if they could win game two by more than 6 runs and if London lose in Southampton, so the Hawks’ mission was far from completed.

Herts seemed to lose some of their game 1-focus following the angry confrontation between the two games and started game two slowly. At the same time the home team responded positively. They were missing their ace pitcher, Chad Munger, who is one of the most feared starters in the AA league so Jeff Stolz was back on the mound for game 2 having started game 1. He was very effective retiring the visitors quickly in the first two innings. Herts finally regained focus in the third with 3 runs after hits from Jonathan Lewys and Aspi Dimitrov. Dimitrov hit 2-for-2 in the second game and 5-for-6 over the two games which pushed his season batting average to .714.

The Hawks didn’t look back after that. Starting pitcher Nick Russell was having yet another outstanding outing. He pitched a complete game shutout allowing only 3 hits. Offensively the team was also starting to bring some power with extra-base hits from Seth Lipstock (1-4 2B), Andy Cornish (1-2 2B RBI)and Andrew Fulford (1-3 3B SF 4RBI). The game ended with a convincing 11-0 win for Herts.

Click to view game 2 box scores and play-by-play

With an 11-4 win-loss record this puts them tied in first place with the Sidewinders (11-4) but the league’s tie-break rules mean that the Sidewinders will be seeded above the Hawks in the playoffs due to the Sidewinders conceding fewer runs in the head-to-head between the two teams in the two regular season games (conceeded runs: Sidewinders 8 Herts 10).

London Mammoths (11-5) won their game at Southampton which means they finish in third place and will face the Poole Piranhas (14-1). Daws Hill (9-6) will have the unenviable task of facing the unbeaten Guildford Mavericks (16-0).

The win secures home field advantage for Herts in the first round of the AA playoffs which will be played this weekend. Their opponents will be either Thames Valley Bisons, Southampton Mustangs, Croydon Pirates or the Latin Tigers. It will all be made clear shortly as the league needs to make a ruling on the situation at Thames Valley and the effect on the standings from the games which could not be completed due to the rainouts earlier in the season. hertsbaseball.com will keep you updated as soon as the BBF makes an announcement.

7 homeruns in thrilling clash between Falcons and Dbacks. Hometown youngster hits his first NBL homerun

Liam Green launching his first NBL homerun over the centerfield wall

 

Game 1: Lakenheath 13 Herts Falcons 3 (click for box scores and play-by-play)

The Herts Falcons had secured their place in the postseason before Sunday’s home game versus Lakenheath, but they were still in with a chance of overtaking the leaders, Harlow, and finishing the regular season as the top team in the country.

Lakenheath were also certain of a place in the postseason, but they had no intentions of taking their foot off the accelerator. They opened up the game with 3 runs in the top of the first which included a 2-run blast from Leo Perez. Herts answered back with two runs of their own but then Lakenheath’s starter Kevin Carr took control of the game and neutralised the Falcons offense. A solo home run by Herts left-fielder Dave Tretheway in the fourth inning was too little and too late for the home team. The Dbacks continued to put on the pressure with multiple runs each inning capped off with another two-run homerun from second baseman Ryan Riniker. They ended the game after five innings of play with a final score 13-3 as Kevin Carr pitched a complete game for the win. Darrin Ward was saddled with the loss.

Game 2: Lakenheath 6 Herts Falcons 9 (click for box scores and play-by-play)

Game two was a much closer affair with each team having breakout innings. This time Herts were the first to score and after 3 innings of play they were up 8-0. That included big hits from the House brothers. Dave House drove in 2 runs with a double and Jeff House followed that up with a single bringing in another 2 runs in a 5-run fifth inning.

Lakenheath’s Leo Perez was once again in the thick of the action hitting his second HR of the day to put the Dback on the board. Lakenheath then found life in the following inning with a couple singles followed up by back to back homeruns. A three run bomb by Kevin Carr and a solo shot from Ryan Riniker, his second of the day. The Dbacks were trailing by just two runs and threatening to record a memorable comeback. With the game on the line Falcons Manager, Lee Manning brought in lefty pitcher, Ryan Bird. He pitched outstandingly shutting down the Dbacks offence and allowing only 1 hit and striking out 4 to close the game for a 9-6 win for Herts.

Bird had some insurance in the fifth inning when 15-year-old Herts right fielder, Liam Green, hit the first home run in his NBL career launching the ball over the left-centerfield wall. Green started playing baseball in 2007 at the age of 10 as one of the first members of the Herts Little League. He lives just a few minutes away from Grovehill Ballpark in Hemel Hempstead and Herts Baseball Club has seen him develop into one of the club’s most promising young prospects. He has previously received call-ups from the Great Britain National Team and progressed through the different age groups and adult league teams of Herts until last year when he made his debut with the Herts Falcons in “the Show”. He has two home runs in his career both were inside-the-park homeruns in the Under-17 league but hitting a home run against the best players in Great Briatain’s top league must have been a thrilling moment for him. That was the final run of the game on what was a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon of baseball in Hemel Hempstead.

Lakenheath Diamondbacks Manager, Ken Reber, said: “You can’t say enough about how fun today was. I’m sure both teams feel that way and you can see the competition between the clubs. But it’s a friendly one with smiles from both sides. This is exactly how we wanted to end the regular season and are looking forward to the playoffs”

 

One last push for the Playoffs

Can the Hawks do it this Sunday? They need to win both games of the doubleheader at the Daws Hill Spitfires.

The tension building up ahead of Sunday’s final games in the AA regular season is what athletes in any sport crave for. The race for the playoffs couldn’t be scripted any better than this.

The Hawks (9-4) find themselves tied for second place with the London Mammoths (10-5) and the Daws Hill Spitfires (9-4). All three teams have clinched a place in the postseason playoffs, however what happens this Sunday could make the difference between success and failure in the playoffs. All three still have a chance to clinch first place if the Sidewinders slip up in their final game, but in the context of the AA Playoff format, this is less important.

All season long the teams from AA Pool B have been keeping one eye on developments in Pool A and in particular the astonishing performances of the Guildford Mavericks (15-0) and the Poole Piranhas (14-1). The teams finishing third and fourth in Pool B will have to face these two seemingly unbeatable Pool A teams. They may not admit it but the invincibility of these two teams must be on the back of the minds of Daws Hill, Herts and London.

For these 3 teams Sunday will not be just a regular season league game. For them this is the start of the postseason. The Hawks and the Spitfires go head-to-head at RAF Daws Hill (first pitch 12:00pm). They both need a sweep knowing that their destiny is in their own hands and that this would secure second place, or even first. The London Mammoths will have their smart phones at hand during their game at the Southampton Mustangs to follow progress at RAF Daws Hill. They need to win and hope that Daws Hill and Herts will split their doubleheader.

Top 4 in the AA League (Pool B) Standings ahead of Sunday’s games

Team W L Pct GB RF RA
Sidewinders 11 4 0.733 152 74
Spitfires 9 4 0.692 1 131 77
Herts Hawks 9 4 0.692 1 114 65
Mammoths 10 5 0.667 1 144 107

The Hawks have become known in the AA league for being a friendly bunch regardless of what happens on the field, but don’t let their friendly appearance fool you. They know how important this is for the whole club. Herts is one of the biggest baseball clubs in the United Kingdom but has won only two national championships in its history – AAA National Champions in 2008 and U14 National Champions in 2010. Success on the field will be a major boost for the army of Herts Baseball members and fans.

They have their work cut out as the Spitfires are a formidable opponent. They are expected to face starting pitchers Chad Munger and Jeff Stolz. Munger has been taking the AA league by storm with an ERA of 1.18 and 60 strikeouts. Which of the Hawks starters will they match him with? Hawks co-Managers, Andy Cornish and Greg Bochan, are spoilt for choice with several equally competent pitchers such as Greg Bochan, Jim Arnott, Louis Hare, Nic Goetz, Nick Russell, Vassil Botev.

Everyone expects both games to be pitching duels and teams trying to manufacture a run from somewhere, but both teams have some powerful hitters in their lineups and they may have a major say on Sunday. Let the battle commence.

 

Falcons with NBL pennant on their mind

Falcons Manager Lee Manning (pictured) and his men have secured their place in the postseason (photo by hp2photographic.com)

The Herts Falcons clinched their place in the National Baseball Championship (NBC) with a 11-4 win at the Croydon Pirates last Sunday. Their second game was rained out and unlikely to be played due to the congestion in the schedule caused by the wettest baseball year in living memory.

Despite this, the Falcons still have the NBL pennant on their mind. They host the playoff-chasing Lakenheath Diamondbacks at Grovehill Ballpark this Sunday (12pm start), with the Harlow Nationals just one-and-a-half games ahead in the standings. At this point of the season and a place in the NBC secured, they have to go for it and hope that the Nationals stumble against the Croydon Pirates.

Even if they don’t, there are efforts being made to play the rained out game between Harlow and Herts on 19 August, as both teams are through to the postseason and can use that Playoff Sunday to play the doubleheader. This is an exciting prospect to determine the best NBL team in the 2012 regular season. But first Lee Manning’s men will need to win both games of this Sunday’s doubleheader against Lakenheath, which is not going to be easy. Anything less and the proposed clash with the Nationals on 19 August will be nothing more than a warm-up game ahead of the NBC on the Bank holiday weekend (25-27 August).

 

Raptors win exhibition games at Grovehill

 

Sun was shining bright at Grovehill despite dark clouds gathering and thunderstorms in neighbouring towns

With no league action for Hawks in the AA League and the Raptors and Eagles in the Single-A League, the teams were joined by members of the Herts U17 team to create a 4-team competition.

Herts Hawks were split in two and supplemented with U17 players to create two teams who clashed in the first semi-final.  The mixed team managed by Andrew Slater held on for a narrow 6-5 win. That took them to the final where they met the Herts Raptors who beat the Herts Eagles in the other semi-final.

In the final, the Raptors were on fire and put 6 runs on the scoreboard without reply from Andrew Slater’s boys as Raptors starting pitcher Zack Longboy had another outstanding day on the mound.

Trailing 6-0 in the final inning Andrew Slater’s team came alive.  They pulled back 4 runs and had a runner on 3rd and runner on second representing the tying run with 1 out.  A fly ball to centerfield seemed to be on its way down for a single, but Ken Pike came flying from centerfield to make a sliding catch. He followed that sectacular play by throwing the ball to second base turning a game-ending double play as the runner on second had gambled on Pike not making the catch.

The teams now look forward to their final round of regular season games next Sunday as the race for the playoffs reaches its climax. Stay tuned to hertsbaseball.com for full coverage of a crunch week in British Baseball.

Herts acquire catcher from Florida

Ahead of the climax of the 2012 British baseball season Herts has received a boost with the addition of catcher Andrew Fulford.

Fulford comes from Tampa, Florida, and he moved to Hemel Hempstead in time for the last few deciding weeks of the regular season.

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 AA level and Fulford would be able to meet the 20% postseason eligibility in the AA if he appears in all of the Hawks’ remaining regular season games.

On the basis of this the coaches decided to add the American to the Hawks roster. The team is in the middle of an almighty battle with the Sidewinders, London Mammoths and the Daws Hill Spitfires for the top spots in the AA standings, which would give two out of the four teams a home field advantage and a more favourable route through the postseason playoffs.

Andrew Fulford is 21-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.

Despite being born in America, Fulford may soon be eligible to play for the Great Britain national team and it wil be interesting to see how he will settle into the British leagues and whether he will be able to attract interest from the GB national team coaches.