bristol baseball club
Both our teams finished with winning records (again!) in another successful
season. The Badgers finished 6-3 and the Bats finished 5-4, here is a game by
game recap. Bats summary- Game 1, at Plymouth Mariners, baptism of fire for new
players Alex, Elliott, Gontzal and James as we faced Plymouth’s best pitcher in
the first game of the season! We lost. Game 2, home v Exeter Spitfires, complete
opposite from game 1, 4 Bats had 3 hits each, we had 21 stolen bases. Game 3,
away but in Failand to Newton Abbott, Mike and Paul hit Home Runs. Game 4, we
beat the Badgers. Game 5, Taunton Muskets pitched a 3 hitter against us. Ouch.
Game 6, Muskets again, Rich had 2 hits and 2 runs, our only highlights. Game 7,
against the Badgers, we only had 4 hits? Pathetic. Game 8, home v Mariners, Rich
dived for a ball, slightly hurt himself, then stopped pitching in the 2nd inning
with the bases loaded and no outs. Later we found out he couldn’t play 3rd base
either! Game 9, Taunton Musketoons, Paul’s pitching and his defense on the mound
were great, plus we had 4 double plays. Badgers summary- Game 1: Home opener vs.
the Muskets – Pete pitched his best game of the season and John Arnold got the
only hit – thanks John! Game 2: Away to the Spitfires, we sure made that game
hard work for ourselves but Aaron hit two homeruns and it pushed us across the
line. Game 3: The first Bristol derby – we were comfortably beaten! Game 4:
Musketoons in Taunton – Aaron hit three homeruns, and Rhod his two (maybe one
was knocked over the fence by the Taunton Centrefielder). Game 5: Newton Abbott
forfeited – snooze! Game 6: The Mariners travelled to Bristol and were thumped.
They said the fence would help them hit homeruns – Tom Hollies struck out 14
batters in 7 innings ! Game 7: Final Bristol derby – the Badgers exacted revenge
and Pete pitched his final game for the Bristol club. Game 8: We played the
Muskets again; Tom Hollies hit two home runs but we still lost. Game 9: 34 walks
for the Badgers! We turned the ball over to ‘The Swan’ Nik South to complete his
perfect season of playing all 9 positions. 2015 for the Bats started somewhat
tumultuously, but they settled into their groove fairly quickly. Opening day
versus the Badgers was rained off, then the first game of the season saw a heavy
loss at home to the Taunton Muskets. This was followed by a worryingly close
game versus their clubmates the Taunton Musketoons, but we scraped through 13-9
in the end. Reasonably big wins followed away to the Exeter Spitfires and
Plymouth Mariners, and the spirit gradually crept back into the team. This was
re-enforced with two very enjoyable games against our clubmates the Badgers,
just a shame they came out on top in both! The next game was supposed to be the
Muskets Re-match but this was another rain-off, which then got rained off
repeatedly and in the end the game was never played. We like to think we could
have beaten Miguel, but the Musket’s 9-0 final record perhaps suggests
otherwise… The next game was one that will stick in the memory for a long time.
Runs were scored in every single half inning right up until the top of the ninth
at home to Exeter, who held the lead for most of the game. A shut-out top of the
ninth by the Bats set things up for victory in the bottom of the ninth, where
Luke Looney tied things up with a three-run shot, Rich Green got on base, stole
second, stole third and Billy Vickery brought him in on a fielder’s choice to
win the game 21-20! You can see the scoreboard below, it’s a classic! A better
win away to the Musketoons was followed by a disappointing loss at home to
Plymouth in the last game of the season. Finishing with a winning record was a
great result though at the end of what was an especially bumpy year. The Bats
look strong going into 2016 though, with much of the 2015 team back and ready to
go; lots of proven players ready to have an impact and a year’s extra experience
under the belts of the relative newcomers. Bring on another year with a winning
record!
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