Bristol Badgers came from behind to win the first game of their BBF AAA double header against a strong London Metros team on Saturday. The Badgers were down 4-7 in the fifth inning, but high quality batting pulled them in front by one run – a lead which they held to complete the 8-7 win.
Outfielder George Braeger went three-for-four at the plate, including a triple, and drove in three runs. Deivydas Trinkunas also had a multi hit game and drove in two runs. There was another strong pitching performance from Nerius Tamosiunas who got the win, pitching a complete game and striking out two Metros.
The second game was a different story with fielding errors contributing to a heavy 21-6 defeat. Only Doug Scriver and Seyi Awofadeju were able to combat the Metro’s pitchers with four hits between them.
“It was always going to be a tough ask taking both games as we were missing a number of key players for the day and this was further impacted by a number of errors in the second game,” said Rhodri Theaker, the Badgers player/manager. “The second game was still very much in our grasp until the last inning where our shallow pitching depth showed against a very strong Metros team. It did however give us the opportunity to blood some fringe pitchers.”
In Oxford, the Bats fought back after a heart-breaking 7-6 loss in the first game against the Kings in their BBF AA clash to romp home in the second with a 24-13 win. The Bristol team started the first game well jumping out to a 5-2 lead but an Oxford grand slam in the bottom of the sixth dealt a blow from which the Bats couldn’t recover.
Michael Comport, Sean Wilkins, Man Hoi Kwan and Alex Brown were all in-form with the bat with seven hits between them and gave good run support to pitcher Josh Boulton who struck out five Oxford players over his five innings pitched. The Bats fielding was tight, with the highlight being a diving catch by centre fielder Paul Gardiner.
The second game was in complete reverse with the Bats down 6-8 after four innings but scoring 18 runs in the final three innings to complete the win.
Comport starred again with the bat driving in seven runs with five hits including two doubles. He was joined by Boulton, Brown and Chris D’Angelo who drove in 14 runs between them.
“There is no doubt we could have won both games, but baseball can be decided by one swing of the bat, which is what happened in the first game,” said Neptali Ortega-Gutiérrez, the Bats player/manager. “We started the second game slowly but the quality of our offense came through with the late run explosion”.
Up next:
Next weekend the Badgers travel to Croydon to take on the Pirates, while the Buccaneers welcome the Cornish Claycutters to Somerdale for the BBF Wessex Division fixture. Also at Somerdale, the Bristol Brunels face unbeaten Cardiff Merlins I in a BBF Severn division match up.
All games start at 12 noon and spectators are welcome. Entrance is free.