{"id":18017,"date":"2014-05-01T00:01:33","date_gmt":"2014-04-30T23:01:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/?p=18017"},"modified":"2014-04-30T22:10:22","modified_gmt":"2014-04-30T21:10:22","slug":"british-baseball-beat-moving-into-may","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/?p=18017","title":{"rendered":"British Baseball Beat: Moving into May"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BBB\"<\/a>April provided something of a stop-start beginning to the British baseball season.<\/p>\n

Indeed, there are a number of teams still waiting to play their first league game of 2014.<\/p>\n

The late Easter Bank Holiday weekend created an early off-weekend for most of the league, with the exception being a successful opener to the new GB All-Star series<\/a> at Farnham Park.<\/p>\n

Then last weekend came around and the weather decided to force many of us indoors, with rain either ruining Sunday or ruining the prospect of playing on the fields a day or two before.<\/p>\n

Last weekend<\/h2>\n

Some games did manage to escape the weather last weekend. In the National Baseball League<\/a>, the Essex Arrows swept a double-header over the Southern Nationals to leap to the top of the standings with a 5-1 record as the previous leaders, the Southampton Mustangs, had their double-header against the South London Pirates rained off. The three-time champion Nationals are rooted to the bottom with no wins from their first four games, although few would think to count them out from mounting another challenge for NBL honours so early in the season.<\/p>\n

In Triple-A, the Cambridge Royals are off to a perfect 4-0 to start the year after following up an Opening Day sweep against the Nottingham Rebels with another two wins<\/a> against the reigning champion MK Bucks. In the North and South, double-headers were split by the Hull Scorpions and Cartmel Valley Lions<\/a>, and the London Metros and Essex Redbacks<\/a> respectively.<\/p>\n

The Sheffield Bladerunners have sprinted out to a 2-0 record with two wins<\/a> against the Oldham North Stars in the AA-North, whilst there were two wins<\/a> for the Daws Hill Spitfires in the AA-South over the Bracknell Inferno. Newcomers the Brentwood Bucks earned their first ever win at the second attempt with a 36-20 triumph over the Richmond Dukes in the A-South. Newcomers are also playing well in the A-Midlands as the Cambridge Monarchs picked up two more victories<\/a>, this time at the expense of the Leicester 2 Sox, to match their AAA Royals team with a 4-0 start to the season.<\/p>\n

Tweets of the Week<\/h2>\n

Action shot from the Essex Redbacks v London Metros match-up<\/p>\n

\n

Round-up of our @britishbaseball<\/a> games with @LondonMetros<\/a> on Sunday by @SamRounce15 http:\/\/t.co\/Hdz5vfsa6O<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/C8yf4jAmXf<\/a><\/p>\n

— Redbacks Baseball (@essexredbacks) April 29, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n