Words and images by Joe Gray
Having swept aside 2008′s championship-winning LONDON METS on the opening weekend, the RICHMOND FLAMES would have been confident going into their second home double-header of the season last Sunday, against the BRACKNELL BLAZERS. The BLAZERS had a 1-7 record against the FLAMES in 2008, but the visitors managed to take both games in the first meeting between the clubs in 2009.
The BLAZERS’ offence was ignited by the return of Michael Stewart, who had previously played in the National Baseball League (NBL) between 2002 and 2005, posting a batting line of .324/.419/.574. In his first weekend for BRACKNELL in 2009, he went 4-for-5 with three walks across the two games.
Batting clean-up in game one, Stewart singled in the first inning to drive in Ryan Trask – who had reached on a double – to give the BLAZERS a lead they did not relinquish. With the score standing at 3-2 in BRACNKELL’s favour after five innings, the BLAZERS rallied for 3 runs in the sixth to put the game beyond RICHMOND’s reach. The game finished 6-2 and the youngster Gordon Sheppard (3.0 innings, 0 runs) picked up the win in relief of Henry Collins (4.0 innings, 1 earned run). RICHMOND’s main offensive highlight was a solo home run by Ryan Bird in the third inning.
In game two, Stewart batted number 3, and his first contribution was a 2-run homer to right-field on a 1-2 pitch. This sparked a 7-run first inning, and the BLAZERS pulled out to a 10-run lead in the third. The FLAMES scored 3 runs in the bottom of the fifth to avoid a slaughter-rule defeat, but they were only able to reduce the deficit to 10-4 by the end of the game. Stewart (3.1 innings, 2 earned runs) relieved Matt Maitland (3.2 innings, 0 runs) to get the win. The FLAMES managed just one extra-base hit, a two-bagger off the bat of George Naumczik.
The other NBL double-header scheduled last Sunday was a visit for the CROYDON PIRATES to the LONDON METS, but the away team was unable to field a team and therefore were forced to forfeit both games. The next few weeks will tell us if CROYDON can reassemble an NBL-quality squad to be competitive in 2009, or whether they will need to withdraw from the competition. The latter scenario would be a big disappointment for British baseball, with the southern top-tier league only recently expanding to five teams.
On a more positive note, it looks like there are four teams in the NBL who have a chance of winning the National Baseball Championship at the end of August (with CROYDON being the exception). This is the most open the league has been for several years.
Finally, below is a photo from the NBL debut of the HERTS FALCONS back on 19 April. Andy Cornish, batting number 3, is evading an inside pitch from CROYDON’s Jared Uys.
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Joe Gray writes for BaseballGB and also looks after Great British top-tier statistics, Project Cobb, and the Great Britain National Team archive.
