Badgers pitcher Mike Osborn shut out Milton Keynes Bucks as the Bristol team swept its BBF AAA double header at Somerdale Pavilion in Keynsham.
Osborn struck out four Bucks batters over five innings as the Badgers romped to a 14-0 victory in the second game.
Centre fielder Doug Scriver led the Badgers offense with two doubles and three runs batted in.
The Badgers were 3-0 up after the third inning but ran amok in the fourth scoring 10 runs with Mattia Pappini. Rich Green and Tom Hollies leading the way, scoring six runs between them.
The first game saw the Badgers romp to a 20-4 victory behind the pitching of Taka Kano who struck out five Milton Keynes players over his five innings.
Seven Badgers recorded hits and including four doubles between Kano, Carlson Charles and Scriver.
“Mike has always been a class act and a delight to watch him dominate batters the way he did on Sunday,” said Rhod Theaker, the Badgers player/manager. “Its was encouraging to see our offense spring to life at crucial times in both games, particularly the amount of doubles we hit.”
Over in Cardiff, the Brunels swept Merlins II 7-6 and 7-1 behind solid defence and outstanding pitching performances by Jake Boyer and Charlie Turner.
The Brunels were leading 7-6 in the last inning of game one, when Boyer took to the mound to strike out two Cardiff players and secure the win.
The second game featured another impressive pitching display from Boyer who struck out eight Merlins over three innings before Rebecca Cottrell stepped in to close the game out with the help of an excellent double play by shortstop Charlie Deeks.
“Jake, Charlie and Rebecca were in great pitching form and I was delighted with the standard of defensive play right through the team,” said Brunels player manager Richard Evans. “The team has a very good attitude and when we needed to score runs in the first game players stepped up and got us into the one run lead we needed.”
Bristol Bats split their double header with Bournemouth Bears A at Somerdale 9-17 and 12-6.
In the first game, the Bears took a five run lead in the first innings and despite consistent scoring, the Bats couldn’t keep the Bournemouth players off the bases.
For the Bats, Graeme Lawton and Josh Boulton hit well. As well as his double, Boulton also came in to pitch strongly in relief.
Alex Brown led the way in the second game which saw the Bats win behind solid pitching from Sean Wilkins who struck out eight Bears.
Shortstop Brown had three hits including a double while Billy Garrett and Ortega-Gutierrez contributed four hits and four RBIs as the Bristol team scored consistently.
Ortega-Gutierrez was pleased with the fightback. “We were a little slow starting and the first inning of the first game probably cost us victory,” he said.
It was a long trip for the Buccaneers to Cornwall to take on the Claycutters.
Despite losing both games 12-3 and 11-6, the Buccaneers fought hard to keep in touch in both games.
Paul Blackburn,Tom Farrell and Henry Mcnamara had success with the bat but the Claycutters’ offense proved too strong and scored regularly in both games.
“Despite the result, there were improvements in our fielding and pitching from the first weekend and we will use the the off-week training sessions to work hard on hitting and base running,” said Brian Say, the Buccaneers’ assistant manager.
The Bristol club has next weekend free of fixtures but all four sides will be in action again on Sunday 8th May.
The Brunels and Bats square off in the first derby of the season while the Buccaneers welcome Weston Jets to Somerdale. The Badgers travel to Taunton to take on division rivals SW Rebeldes in their AAA clash.