It was the first ‘Special Event’ of the 2011 National Baseball League season on Sunday. The concept was introduced last year as a way to bring all the top-tier clubs together as a showcase for the sport in Britain. 

With the NBL increasing from eight to ten teams this year, the ‘Special Event’ was spread over two venues this time: three nine-inning games at Herts and two at Richmond.

At Grovehill Ballpark, the home team Herts Falcons (2-6) were unable to build on the momentum gained from their double-win over the Croydon Pirates from the previous Sunday.  The London Mets (4-2) proved to be too strong for the Falcons, as explained by the Mets’ official scorer, Tanya Cramman:

“London Mets 14 Herts Falcons 3

After a scoreless first inning, London came out in the second to score 8 runs off 4 hits batting through their order, whilst Herts were unable to reply.  Herts centre fielder, Mahendra Prasad, played a solid defence in sometimes challenging winds making a difficult diving catch mid way through the game.  London welcomed their latest addition Erick Henson, who was solid behind the plate and got the job done with the bat scoring London’s opening run.  Darrin Ward took the loss with Zach Russel earning his second NBL win”.

The Mets remain in second place in Pool B, 1.5 games behind the Lakenheath Diamondbacks (7-2) after the Pool leaders stunned the Essex Arrows (2-9) with a ninth-inning rally to turn a 7-4 deficit into an 8-7 victory.  It was a heartbreaking loss for the Arrows, but they will take confidence from pushing the Diamondbacks all the way. 

Meanwhile the Southern Nationals (5-4) moved over .500 thanks to a hard-fought victory over the Mildenhall Bulldogs (3-6).  The Nationals appeared to be coasting to the win in the middle of the fifth inning when they led 10-1, but a six-run inning brought the Bulldogs back into it and the Nationals just managed to stay ahead to win 12-11.  Brendan Cunliffe starred for the Nationals, going 3-for-4 with a home run.

In the games at Richmond, the home town Flames met the Southampton Mustangs in a battle from the top of Pool A.  It appeared as though the Mustangs would have a two-game cushion at the top of the standings after they took a 4-0 lead; however the Flames levelled the game and then won it on a walk-off single by Marcus Simpson to leave the teams locked together on 9-2 records. 

The Croydon Pirates (2-9) responded to their two losses last Sunday by taking an 11-8 win against an admittedly depleted Bracknell Blazers (3-4) team.

There are four NBL double-headers scheduled for this weekend: Arrows @ Blazers, Mustangs @ Bulldogs, Flames at Nationals and Diamondbacks @ Falcons.

The fabulous four become a fearless three

Away from the National Baseball League, the main story was that the number of unbeaten teams reduced from four to three on Sunday.

In the AA Midlands, the MK Bucks won the first game of a double-header against the Nottingham Rebels to improve to 9-0, but the rapidly improving Rebels broke the Bucks’ unbeaten run in the second game with a memorable 6-3 victory.  Birmingham Maple Leafs swept a double-header over the Leicester Blue Sox to move within one game of the Bucks at the top of the AA Midlands, while the Rebels are in third with a highly creditable 5-5 record from their first ten games as a new team in the British Leagues.

That left the AAA North Liverpool Trojans and the two A South leaders, Southampton Mustangs II and Cambridge Royals, as the three teams still to face the disappointment of a defeat in 2011. 

All three managed to put off that moment for at least one more week. The Trojans’ (8-0) double-header against the Halton Jaguars was postponed due to a waterlogged field, while the A South teams continued their winning ways.  The Mustangs II (7-0) gained a 28-1 victory over Guildford Mavericks II and the Cambridge Royals (6-0) recorded an 18-3 win on the road against the Braintree Rays. 

However, only more inclement weather will stop the unbeaten three from becoming an unbeaten two on Sunday as the Mustangs II and Royals meet in Southampton in a battle between the A South Pool B and Pool A leaders respectively.  The Mustangs II will be favourites on home turf, but the Royals are sure to put up a strong fight in a high-stakes game.

Badgers back to winning ways, Herts Hawks break their duck

In the AAA South, the Bristol Badgers (11-1) responded to having their unbeaten start to the season broken the previous Sunday by picking up two wins away to the Oxford Kings (6-8).  The Essex Redbacks (9-5) made it four wins in a row by taking both games of a double-header at home to the Richmond Knights (2-10) to pull within three games of the division-leading Badgers.  The Knights have an immediate chance to gain revenge as they host the Redbacks this Sunday.  Bristol may also feel they have a point to prove as they face the team that took their unbeaten start away: the Windsor and Bracknell Bears.

In the AAA North, the Manchester A’s picked up what looks like two forfeit wins over the Menwith Hill Patriots.  The A’s and Trojans are scheduled to reignite their rivalry this Sunday at Allen Field in Manchester.

Staying in the north, Manchester Torrent took two wins against the Humber Pilots to improve to 5-3 on the season.  They are two games behind the AA-North division-leading Bolton Robots of Doom, with those two sides set to meet this Sunday in Bolton for a double-header.

In the AA- South, the Latin Boys made it four wins in a row with two victories over the Richmond Knights. Judging by the box scores, they were two weird and wonderful games as the Latin Boys scored 17 runs in both.  The first game was a comfortable win, the second was anything but.  Brentwood Stags are in second place behind the Latin Boys in Pool A after two victories over Croydon Pirates III, while the Guildford Mavericks secured two victories over Essex Redbacks II to keep up the pressure on the Sidewinders at the top of Pool B. 

And finally, Herts Hawks got rid of the ‘0’ in their win column while splitting a double-header with Kent Mariners.  The Hawks will look to add another win to their total this Sunday against the Mavericks.

There was a reduced schedule of games last Sunday in the British Baseball leagues, in part due to the continuing umpire saga.  Hopefully everyone can get back out on the field this weekend.

The games that were played produced plenty of stories, setting up some interesting battles for this coming Sunday.

Memorable day for the Mustangs

The Southampton Mustangs made it four wins from four in the only action from the National Baseball League. 

They followed up an Opening Day double-header sweep of Herts Falcons with two victories at home against the Essex Arrows.  Buoyed by their appearance on the BBC One South Today programme, the Mustangs shut-out the Arrows in a 5-0 win before taking the second game 8-2. 

The wins ensured the Mustangs retain their early lead in Pool A heading into a scheduled double-header away to Croydon Pirates (1-1) on Sunday.  The other NBL double-headers will be Bracknell Blazers at Essex Arrows, Herts Falcons at London Mets, Mildenhall Bulldogs at Richmond Flames and Lakenheath Diamondbacks at Southern Nationals.

Meanwhile the Southampton Mustangs II took over top spot in the A South Pool B division with a 17-1 win over Herts Raptors. 

The game will live long in the Mustangs’ memory as Dave Wrigley pitched the first no-hitter in the organization’s history.  It was similar to the no-no that the Minnesota Twins’ Francisco Liriano pitched on Tuesday.  Wrigley allowed seven free passes and added a hit-by-pitch for good measure, but some good pitches at key moments and impressive defence kept the Raptors from recording a hit and made it a day to remember.  The Mustangs II drove home eight runs in the seventh and final inning to seal an emphatic victory.

Wins in the A-South for Royals, Old Timers and Rays

Staying in the A-South, both Cambridge Royals and Old Timers joined the Mustangs II on 2-0 records. 

The Royals won 17-7 against Tonbridge at Coldham’s Common, while the Old Timers got the better of London Marauders in a high-scoring affair.  The Old Timers ran out 23-17 in a game full of twists and turns.  The Marauders can count themselves unfortunate to notch so many runs yet to come out on the losing side and it will be interesting to see how they respond at Cambridge on Sunday. 

Braintree Rays recovered from a 6-3 deficit to beat Guildford Mavericks II, plating five runs in the top of the ninth to take the game away from their opponent and to give the Rays their first win of the season.   

AA: More wins for the Maple Leafs and Mavericks

The Humber Pilots and Bolton Robots of Doom both swept double-headers on Opening Day in the AA-North to give extra bite to the two teams’ meeting this coming Sunday.  The Pilots took two against Manchester Torrent, while the Robots got the better of Oldham North Stars. 

Birmingham Maple Leafs are setting the pace in the AA Midlands.  They improved to 4-0 with two wins against the Nottingham Rebels.  Despite taking two more losses, the Rebels showed once again that they are a new team full of promise and their match-up against the Leicester Blue Sox this Sunday should provide two very competitive games.  The Blue Sox took two comfortable victories against the Blue Sox 2 team to get their first wins of the season.

In the South, the Guildford Mavericks improved to 2-0 with a big win over the Richmond Dragons.  The Mavericks had ten-run innings in the fifth and sixth frames to set up a 27-7 victory.  Poole Piranhas, Croydon Pirates III and Essex Archers all picked up their first wins of the year.

AAA – Trojans take two, Badgers remain unbeaten

In the AAA-North, Liverpool Trojans jumped to 4-0 following two wins against the Menwith Hill Patriots.  The first game finished 11-0 but was a closer contest then that suggests with one big ten-run inning costing the Patriots dearly.  They tried to make amends in the second game and held a 2-1 lead heading into the fifth inning, only for the Trojans to score five runs over the next three frames.  The Patriots made it close in the bottom of the seventh, but fell one run short of taking the game into extra innings, ultimately losing out 5-4. 

The potential of an all 4-0 contest between the Trojans and Manchester A’s this Sunday was scuppered when the latter’s games against Halton Jaguars were postponed due to a lack of umpires.  That does still mean that two unbeaten starts will be on the line, though.

In the South, the Bristol Badgers are now the only team that remain unbeaten and they lead the division as a result.  The Badgers took two wins against the AAA newcomers Richmond Knights (0-4), while the reigning champion Oxford Kings had to play their games against Essex Redbacks a man down.  They still put up a good fight, but the Redbacks proved too strong in the end and ruined the Kings’ unbeaten start to the season. 

The Redbacks’ two wins improved their record to 3-1 and they are the next in line to try to bring down the Badgers on Sunday. The London Metros have also climbed to 3-1 after they swept a double-header over the Windsor & Bracknell Bears.

After an Easter break, the British baseball league gets going again this Sunday.  Some teams are looking to continue their winning ways from the first weekend of games, while others hope to get their first win (or wins) on the board. 

Meanwhile in the AA-South division, the teams will simply be glad to get out on the field after a slightly delayed start to their season.

National Baseball League

In the National Baseball League, three teams have perfect 2-0 records to maintain heading into the second week of the National Baseball League.

The Southampton Mustangs swept a double-header away to Herts Falcons on 17 April.  Their first home encounter of the season sees them welcoming the Essex Arrows (1-1) to the University of Southampton campus. The London Mets (2-0) and Lakenheath Diamondbacks (2-0) look to continue their good starts against teams who are seeking their first win of 2011.  The Mets take on Mildenhall Bullodgs, while the D-Backs take on fellow 2011 newcomers the Southern Nationals. 

Bracknell Blazers and Richmond Flames (both 1-1) meet at the former’s Westmorland Park.  The planned double-header between Croydon Pirates (1-1) and Herts Falcons (0-2) is being postponed, provisionally rescheduled to 29 May.

AAA

In AAA-North, Liverpool Trojans and Manchester A’s have the same aim on Sunday: sweep another double-header so that they can go into their games against each other on 8 May with 4-0 records.  Menwith Hill Patriots and Halton Jaguars hope to play the role of spoiler.  In the South, reigning champs Oxford Kings (2-0) travel to Melbourne Park in Chelmsford to face Essex Redbacks (1-1).  Richmond Knights (0-2) have a tough task to earn their first AAA win as they host the 2-0 Bristol Badgers.

AA

The AA-North season looks set to get underway, with Bolton travelling to Oldham to take on the North Stars.  The top match-up in the AA-South division sees the 1-0 Thames Valley Bisons hosting the Guildford Mavericks, who won their first game in the AA-South following promotion over the offseason.

In the Midlands, Birmingham Maple Leafs started their season in fine form with two wins against Leicester Blue Sox.  Their opponents on Sunday, Nottingham Rebels, began their BBF history with two losses to the Milton Keynes Bucks but put up an impressive fight and will be hoping a similar effort will be rewarded with a ‘W’ or two this weekend.   The Bucks have the weekend off, as the two Leicester Blue Sox teams face off at Western Park.

A

All eight A-South teams are scheduled to be in action on Sunday, with the four winners from Week One each facing a team that took a loss.  Cambridge Royals (1-0) and Guildford Mavericks II (1-0), new to the league in 2011, are due to play their first home games against Tonbridge (0-1) and Braintree Rays (0-1) respectively.  

Full details can be found on the BBF website.

The 2011 British baseball season got underway on Sunday.  All but the AA-North division started out prior to this weekend’s Easter break, setting the opening agenda before we get right back to the action on Sunday 1 May.

The new British Baseball Federation (BBF) website provides a variety of ways in which you can catch up on all the Opening Day scores.  This includes some excellent division round-ups for the AA-Midlands, AAA-North and AAA-South. 

Our focus this week is on the teams that are either new to the league or who have changed divisions over the offseason.

Contrasting fortunes for D-Backs and Nationals

There are two teams new to the National Baseball League (NBL) and they experienced mixed fortunes on Opening Day. 

Lakenheath Diamondbacks couldn’t have hoped for a better start, winning both games of the ‘Battle of the Bases’ double-header against Mildenhall Bulldogs.  They were two close contests and the Bulldogs will already have 26 June circled on their schedule, eagerly awaiting a chance to turn the tables on their United States Army Air Force rivals.  Meanwhile at Finsbury Park, Southern Nationals suffered a pair of one-run defeats at the hands of the London Mets. 

In fact, the main story from Opening Day in the NBL is that it looks like being an extremely competitive division.  The Essex Arrows gained a split against the reigning champion Richmond Flames, while Croydon Pirates let a 12-5 lead slip only to grab a 13-12 walk-off win to split a double-header with Bracknell. Southampton Mustangs opened their season with an impressive two-game sweep away to Herts Falcons, although the latter will be encouraged by their battling performance in the second game while coping with a long list of injuries.

Kings reign over Knights

In the AAA-South league, last year’s AA Champion Richmond Knights started life in the higher league with a double-header against the AAA Champion Oxford Kings. 

The Kings wasted little time in imposing their authority on the newcomers, taking the opener 13-2 with the game being called after five innings. So ended the Knights’ regular season game winning streak at 20 games and they took the loss in the second game as well; however they recovered from an early 7-0 deficit to take the game to its full seven innings, eventually succumbing by a score of 14-6.  The Kings showed why they are considered the team to beat, but it shouldn’t be long before the Knights get another patented winning streak going.

While there are no new teams in the AAA-North, it’s certainly worth pointing out the double-header wins by Liverpool Trojans and Manchester A’s, over the Halton Jaguars and Menwith Hill Patriots respectively.   The Trojans’ 2011 goal is clear: win the AAA-North and then take the AAA title that so narrowly eluded them last year.  With the type of strong pitching that Martin Godsall and Rob Vondy showed against the Jags, they’ve got every chance of doing just that.  The question is whether any of their North or South rivals can stop them?

Bucks beat the Rebels, Mavericks slay the Dragons

In the AA-Midlands, the newcomer Nottingham Rebels faced a similar fate to that of the Southern Nationals and Richmond Knights.  They lost both games to an established rival, in the Rebels’ case the Milton Kenyes Bucks, but showed they are more than worth their place in the division and that they have plenty of potential. 

The same can be stated for the Essex Redbacks 2 in the AA-South.  They were involved in one of the top games on Opening Day, leading the Brentwood Stags 7-3 heading into the seventh inning only to suffer a heartbreaking 9-8 loss with the Stags scoring three times in the bottom of the ninth for a walk-off win. 

Guildford Mavericks took an 11-5 debut win in the AA-South against the Richmond Dragons.  The Mavericks’ pitcher Kevin Zanes recovered from conceding three runs in the first inning to limit the Dragons to only two more runs the rest of the way.  The offence did the rest, with third baseman James Guerra leading the way with five RBIs.

Regal start for Royals

The Cambridge Royals celebrated their return to the British leagues in A-South with a comprehensive 33-5 win over Herts Raptors.  The Royals’ next scheduled game is due to mark the return of baseball to Cambridge’s Coldham’s Common; however their opponents, Tonbridge, had to forfeit their opening contest due to a lack of players so we await confirmation that the game will go ahead as planned.

Tonbridge were scheduled to face the other A-South newcomers, the Guildford Mavericks 2, on Sunday.  Both teams were keen to get their seasons underway so they did play a game with the Mavericks lending Tonbridge a few players and coming out on top by a final score of 16-8.  It goes into the BBF books as a 9-0 forfeit in favour of the Mavericks 2, meaning a winning start for the new team, but it was good to see the teams enjoying a game regardless of the official outcome already being known.

Don’t miss our BSUK podcast

Following Opening Day, Joe Gray and I spent some time chatting to BSUK’s Jason Greenberg about the 2011 BBF League structure, our opinions on the new BBF website, and offered some thoughts on teams and players to keep an eye out for during the season ahead.  Why not take a listen to the podcast?