LYBL continue to be the dominant force in British youth baseball as they finished in first place in all four age divisions of the BBF Youth National Baseball Championships. However, Herts Baseball Club is closing the gap.

U19

The Herts Falcons faced LYBL in the U19 national final. There were exceptionally talented players on both rosters with experience playing in the National Baseball League and for the Great Britain U15 and U18 National Teams. Those who were at the game saw very high level of baseball and a number of GB coaching staff were there too to assess British players.

Ten of the U19 players were members of the Herts Falcons NBL team this season –  seven of them were on the Falcons U19 roster and three were with LYBL U19 as this was the youth baseball programme which they came through. Unfortunately for Herts, Ben Sporleder, wasn’t able to recover from an injury in time for this game and Tasuku Ishihara also wasn’t available to play. This opened an opportunity for U19 players from the other Herts adult league teams to shine in this final. All seven Herts adult league teams were represented on the Herts Falcons U19 roster.

Dan Moran was the starting pitcher in the first game of this best-of-3 series and he had an excellent outing. The game went right down to the wire with LYBL U19 leading 4-3 going into the final inning, but they managed to drive in 4 more runs to win the game. 

Game Two became a must-win for the Falcons U19 and they had the best possible start taking a 2 -0 lead with starting pitcher Erik Gustafson keeping LYBL batters off balance and getting outs.  They had the opportunity to extend their lead when they loaded the bases with no one out in the later innings but LYBL U19 stayed calm under pressure to get out of that situation without allowing any runs to score. That was a missed opportunity and the momentum of the game changed. LYBL took the lead and didn’t look back as they won Game Two 9-3 winning the series and lifting the U19 national championship trophy.  GB U18 National Team manager, Erick Henson, chose Kaden Horwood as the MVP (Most Valuable Player) of the series.

U16

The Herts U16 team also faced LYBL in the semi-final and their task was just as difficult. J.J. Sanders kept the Falcons U16 in the game with a commanding performance on the mound but LYBL found a way through the Herts defence to take a 4-1 lead.   They managed to extend that lead to 10-1 after J.J. Sanders reached his regulation pitch count limit which is in force in youth baseball.

In the U16 Bronze Medal game the Falcons U16 came up against the Essex Redbacks U16s who took a 6-3 lead. Herts players needed to find a way back into the game and they produced a late comeback to win 11-7 and take the U16 bronze medal.

U13

The luck of the draw also paired Herts with the favourites LYBL in the U13 division.  Chi Hong Wong and Hans Hartman combined on the mound for the Falcons. They and the defence behind them had to battle against a very competent opponent. Similar to the U16 semi-final, Herts kept pace in the first half of the game but LYBL took the game beyond them eventually. Final score 12-3.

London Mets were the opponents in the Bronze medal game and they won it 7-3.

U11

The Falcons U11 team secured the second Bronze medal for Herts Baseball Club. They came up against a strong Mets U11 team in the semi-final but bounced back in the Bronze medal game with a win against Essex Redbacks U11.

MLB Spy

There were over 200 players and many more fans at Farnham Park for the  2023 National Youth Baseball Championships and they may not have realised that among them was an MLB All Star.  Chase Utley (pictured above on the bench) is a World Series winner with the Philadelphia Phillies but on Saturday he was quietly following the next generation of British Baseball players as an ambassador for MLB in Europe. Will one of them go on to play in MLB in the future? We look forward to following the progress of these talented young players in the coming years.

This Saturday

There is one more event for boys and girls aged between 6 and 15 this Saturday in the Annual Herts Futures Tournament.  New players can still register to play in the tournament.  Contact Herts Baseball Club for more details.

Herts Baseball Club will be represented in all four divisions of the 2023 BBF Youth National Baseball Championships this Saturday, 23 September.

U19 Division

The Herts Falcons U19 team goes into the Final as the underdogs against LYBL U19. However, Herts U19 manager, Will Zucker, is not fazed by the fact that the odds are stacked against his team. His roster features young players from all seven Herts adult league teams so it will be interesting to see if Herts players from the NBL, Triple-A, Double-A and Single-A leagues will be able to combine and work together as a team with very little time to prepare since the end of the adult league season last week.

The Final is a best-of-3 series with all three games being played on the same day. Pitching depth and physical stamina will be critical.

The club’s best finish in this age group was as runner-up in 2013 national championship when they beat the London Mets 6-4 in the semi-final and lost 6-9 in the final to the Cobham Cougars. Will Zucker was 16 years old and was the starting pitcher for the Herts Harriers in the final so this year he will have another shot at the U19 national title, this time as team manager.

U16 Division

Herts Falcons U16 will also face LYBL U16 in one of the semi-finals. The two teams met three times during the BBF Yotuh Super League regular season and LYBL won all three games, so they have the upper hand this Saturday. Herts U16 manager Nick Sanders will need his team to be at their very best if they are to eliminate the favourites.  The winner will face the winner of the other semi-final between Essex Redbacks and LYBL’s second team.

U13 Division

The format in the U13 Division is the same as the U16s and Herts Falcons U13 will face LYBL U13 with an equally difficult task. Herts U13 manager, Stephen Wong, added 10 extra training sessions during the summer holidays and this Saturday is the ideal opportunity to see if his team will manage to close the gap on LYBL. In the other Semi-Final, LYBL’s second team clash with the London Mets. The winners of the two Semi-Finals will meet in the final.

U11 Division

The Herts U11 roster includes players from the club’s two branches in Hemel Hempstead and in London so manager Daniel Rose will have the difficult task of blendinU them together. They face Mets U11 in the second semi-final with the winner facing the winner of the other semi-final between LYBL U11 and Essex Redbacks U11.

12 years of hurt…

The last time a Herts youth baseball team won the national championships was in 2010 when the Herts U14 team beat the London Mets 2-1 in the final. The closest that a Herts youth team has come to lifting the national championship trophy since 2010 was in 2011 and 2013 when they finished as runners-up in the U14 and U17 divisions, respectively. Can they bring the silverware back home this weekend?

The BBF Youth Super League starts this Saturday, 6 May. It’s a new competition launched by the British Baseball Federation (BBF) this year covering the Under-15 and Under-11 age groups. It will feature teams from Herts, London Mets and LYBL.

The Youth Super League standings will determine the seeding for the National Youth Baseball Championships later in the year.

Each of the participating clubs is expected to host a game day which will adopt a round-robin game format.

Herts Baseball Club will host the first round of games at Grovehill Ballpark, Hemel Hempstead, this Saturday, 6 May.

Food and drinks will be on sale during the event including hot dogs, burgers, nachos and other ballpark favorites.

Players who haven’t registered to play with the Herts youth league teams this season, can still register in time to be added to the teams for the next round of Youth Super League games.

For more information, contact us.

As part of Major League Baseball’s investment in the UK and the London Series, a pilot programme in association with the Youth Sport Trust was introduced where a hub of around 15 schools is created in a number of regions to run the MLB First Pitch programme. One of these hubs is in Hemel Hempstead and the surrounding area. 

The programme culminates with an end-of-school-year baseball event bringing all the schools from the hub together.  Herts Baseball Club was approached to host the end of year baseball festival scheduled for the summer of 2021, however that event could not take place due to Covid restrictions in schools.

Steps are being taken now to stage this event this summer on Tuesday, July 4, at Grovehill Ballpark, the home of Herts Baseball Club in Hemel Hempstead. The event is likely to feature a skills session from 9:30 to 12:00 and games from 12:30 to 14:45. It is expected to cover students aged 9 to 11 – school years 5 and 6.

The club is inviting Herts club members or players and coaches from other clubs who would be interested and available to act as event staff volunteers and as paid coaches on that day. The fee for the coaches will range between £12.50 and £23.75, depending on the role and the level of the coach.  For more details and to express interest contact us.