Weekend Irish League roundup
April 28th - April 29th
A couple of big games in the Irish Baseball League this weekend and one very unsatisfactory postponement.
Blacksox @ Belfast
The Blacksox travelled to Belfast to play the Belfast Northstars and won the game 26-7. The Blacksox bats were working well and the defence was tight until the last inning when Belfast got a few runs back.
Sal, Jose and Brendam were the offensive heroes for the Blacksox who are off to a great start.
Greystones @ Spartans
Meanwhile, the Spartans took on the Greystones Mariners Here is an exclusive game report from Irish National team legend Darran O'Connor.
Spartans beat the visiting Greystones in this weekend's A fixture 9 to 2. Jonathan Lerner from Albany NY via Cork made his Spartan Debut on the mound throwing 4 dominant innings allowing only a couple of hits and no runs. Andrei closed it out allowing only two consolation runs. Spartans jumped on Greystones ace Shaun Michelas early knocking in five in the first inning. While Shaun settled down in the latter innings, the Mariners continued to bleed runs with a number of errors in the field. Highlight of the day was a battle between Mariners Catcher and Irish international Gareth Donnelly and Romanian Juniors Star Andrei. The count went full before Gareth hit a ball to the fence that was inches foul. The next pitch was a teasing change up that caught Donnelly off guard and 'put him in the book' as a strike out. In the same game a line drive to the shortstop with runners on first and second nearly turned into a triple play with the runner just making it safely back to first.
Meanwhile in the B fixture, the Mariners took advantage of a rookie Spartan infield which failed to support a decent performance by Romanian pitcher Marious. After 5 innings Philip Keeney came in as middle relief and made his Pitching debut for the Spartans. Unfortunately the bats never fired fully for the Spartans and with some running errors (including 2 runners hit by batted ball) the Mariners cruised to a 17-8 victory.
So the Spartans A win while the Mariners B take the B level game.
The Irish league suffered it's first hiccup of the season when the Hurricanes v Twins clash had to be postponed due to the fact that there was no umpire available. The Hurricanes and Twins were unable to play their game even though the Spartans and Mariners were off (played Sunday). Perhaps there was an outstanding reason myself, the Hurricanes and Twins clubs don't know about, however it is very unsatisfactory when your game is called off on the weekend itself because there is no umpire.
This has happened in previous seasons though, and is part and parcel of playing baseball in an amateur league that relies on volunteer help to fulfil it's functions. It has its positives and it has its negatives. I suppose you have to take the good with the bad!
The Hurricanes travel to Belfast this coming Saturday for a crucial fixture for both sides. Hopefully this good weather continues for the Hurricanes first road trip of the season!
Other links of interest -
The 2007 Irish League preview
The opening weekend review
If you would like to get involved with Baseball Ireland at any level, Adult or Youth, or would like to support the game in Ireland, please refer to this link.
April 28th - April 29th
A couple of big games in the Irish Baseball League this weekend and one very unsatisfactory postponement.
Blacksox @ Belfast
The Blacksox travelled to Belfast to play the Belfast Northstars and won the game 26-7. The Blacksox bats were working well and the defence was tight until the last inning when Belfast got a few runs back.
Sal, Jose and Brendam were the offensive heroes for the Blacksox who are off to a great start.
Greystones @ Spartans
Meanwhile, the Spartans took on the Greystones Mariners Here is an exclusive game report from Irish National team legend Darran O'Connor.
Spartans beat the visiting Greystones in this weekend's A fixture 9 to 2. Jonathan Lerner from Albany NY via Cork made his Spartan Debut on the mound throwing 4 dominant innings allowing only a couple of hits and no runs. Andrei closed it out allowing only two consolation runs. Spartans jumped on Greystones ace Shaun Michelas early knocking in five in the first inning. While Shaun settled down in the latter innings, the Mariners continued to bleed runs with a number of errors in the field. Highlight of the day was a battle between Mariners Catcher and Irish international Gareth Donnelly and Romanian Juniors Star Andrei. The count went full before Gareth hit a ball to the fence that was inches foul. The next pitch was a teasing change up that caught Donnelly off guard and 'put him in the book' as a strike out. In the same game a line drive to the shortstop with runners on first and second nearly turned into a triple play with the runner just making it safely back to first.
Meanwhile in the B fixture, the Mariners took advantage of a rookie Spartan infield which failed to support a decent performance by Romanian pitcher Marious. After 5 innings Philip Keeney came in as middle relief and made his Pitching debut for the Spartans. Unfortunately the bats never fired fully for the Spartans and with some running errors (including 2 runners hit by batted ball) the Mariners cruised to a 17-8 victory.
So the Spartans A win while the Mariners B take the B level game.
The Irish league suffered it's first hiccup of the season when the Hurricanes v Twins clash had to be postponed due to the fact that there was no umpire available. The Hurricanes and Twins were unable to play their game even though the Spartans and Mariners were off (played Sunday). Perhaps there was an outstanding reason myself, the Hurricanes and Twins clubs don't know about, however it is very unsatisfactory when your game is called off on the weekend itself because there is no umpire.
This has happened in previous seasons though, and is part and parcel of playing baseball in an amateur league that relies on volunteer help to fulfil it's functions. It has its positives and it has its negatives. I suppose you have to take the good with the bad!
The Hurricanes travel to Belfast this coming Saturday for a crucial fixture for both sides. Hopefully this good weather continues for the Hurricanes first road trip of the season!
Other links of interest -
The 2007 Irish League preview
The opening weekend review
If you would like to get involved with Baseball Ireland at any level, Adult or Youth, or would like to support the game in Ireland, please refer to this link.
Comments
Man that's bad. You should have just had a player from both sides umpire switching off every inning. Anyway, a good start for my BlackSox.
Great start for the Blacksox. The Sox and Spartans will be tough to catch if they keep this pace up.
As for the umpiring, personally I am not happy that on a day when two other teams were unoccupied the league was unable to find an umpire for an 'A' level game.
These things, however, happen.
Just in case any ex-pat Americans or anyone who knows the game and fancies umpiring the game here in Dublin (or Belfast, Greystones and Shankill), drop me a line and ill put you in touch with the league.