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Guildford,
June 19th 2005.
Early season
league leaders Bournemouth came to Guildford, having been
knocked off the top the previous week, by Windsors win over the
Mavericks. Still missing 4 starters, Guildford could at least
welcome back Marty Poulter and Mike Burdett from the DL, and had
recent acquisition Tom Sheridan starting on the mound for the
first time.
The Sharks, who in
the past have always had a good batting line up, got off to a
flyer, scoring 7 times in the first, albeit with 5 of those runs
being unearned, as Guildford didn't help some good pitching by
Tom Sheridan, by letting him down in the field. Again it was the
problem of not making the simple plays, that cost the Mavericks,
and 3 errors were the results of this. On the flip side, when
the Mavericks came to bat, they struggled against some equally
good pitching from Bournemouth starter Chris Lawson. Only a walk
by Duncan Phillippo,
 ruined
a perfect inning for the Sharks, and even then only 3 batters
came to the plate, as Duncan was thrown out trying to steal
third.
In the second The
Sharks were still struggling to catch up with Tom's fastball,
and Maverick right fielder, Jazz Brown was kept busy, as the
Sharks scored 8 more in the second, although again Tom should
have got out of the inning with only a couple on the board. The
Mavericks went down in the second without scoring, although Mike
Burdett produced their first hit of the day, but a fly ball, a
fielders choice and a strikeout, menat no Maverick runner had
yet passed second.
The Sharks were
finally retired without scoring in the third, although
Maverick lead-off hitter, Marty Poulter Sharks reliever, Lawrence Jamie Barnett is safe at third SS, Andy Sheridan CF, Mike Burdett 4 for 4 Nick Jolly pops one up Jazz wonders if 1B is on stilts Duncan resorts to using 2 bats
after Paul
Lawrence
Bournemouth were
still not finding it easy against Tom's pitching, but a single
from Rob Horne and a double from Doug Goodland, allowed
them to tack on another run in the 4th, but at least this time,
the Mavericks defense held, and took the chances presented to
them. The Mavericks hitting also stepped up to the plate in the
4th, as they scored their first run of the game as
 Mike
Burdett doubled, and was driven in by a 2 out double from Tom
Sheridan against Sharks reliever Paul Lawrence.
Although not
completely out of the game, and in fact further adrift than they
perhaps should have been, the Mavericks completely imploded in
the 5th. Having given up a lead off walk, Guildford should have
gotten out of the inning on a Lawrence ground out and a fly ball
from West, but the third out, when Ben Moody gounded out to
first produced an error, which was to have calamitous effects.
The Sharks then proceded to take advantage of a tiring Tom
Sheridan, scoring 13 times with those 2 outs, once more helped
by futher fielding errors. The Mavericks somewhat shellshocked
by that inning were unable to produce anything in their half,
and despite another walk from Jazz Brown, again couldn't advance
the runners.
Bournemouth were
now just about assured of ending the game under the slaughter
rule in the 7th, and had made several changes, including another
pitching change. The added 3 more runs to their total in the top
of the 6th, although this time, without any help from the
Mavericks. They were now beginning to turn on some of Tom's
pitches, but considering he would end the game having thrown
about 3-4 times more pitches than any Sharks pitcher, that was
no surprise. At least the Mavericks were able to add a run of
their own in the bottom of the 6th, as an RBI double from Mike
Burdett, drove in Nick Jolly who had drawn a lead off walk.
The 7th, although
academic, produced the only inning where Guildford outscored the
opposition. Tom proved he still had something left, as he
retired the Sharks in order, and with two outs, and following a
Jamie Barnett double, and walk from Duncan Phillippo, Mike
Burdett concluded his 4-for-4 afternoon, as he drove a pitch
from Sam Lawrence over the left field fence for a 3 run Home
Run.
It has to be said,
that the Mavericks were simply outclassed on the day.
 Tom
Sheridan pitched a very good game, and deservedly took Maverick
MVP honours, but poor defense contributed to 18 unearned runs,
and resulted in Tom throwing down almost 200 pitches, which when
you consider 51 pitches (Chris Lawson) was top amongst
Bournemouth pitchers, meant he was facing an uphill battle. The
Sharks had good starting and relief pitching, and backed this up
with some solid hitting. Not too many of their fly balls were
not driven hard, and although it took them a while to catch up
with Tom, they took advantage of all the opportunities the
Mavericks gave them.
It is beco
 ming
quite difficult to differentiate the between the sides at the
top of the division, and undoubtedly, the pitching has improved
considerably from a couple of years ago. Certainly there is very
little between Bournemouth, Windsor, Burgess Hill, Southampton
and Cheddar. Unfortunately over the same period, the Mavericks
have downgraded in the pitching department, although with Tom
Sheridan, there is hope for the future.
With two home
games in a row coming up, followed by two blank weekends in the
division one schedule for the Mavs, they have a chance to
re-group and concentrate on improving those defensive basics
that are letting them down, as well as on the batting which it
producing two few scoring opportunities.
Maverick MVP: Tom Sheridan
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flied
out to LF and James Drew walked, the Mavericks were somewhat
fortunate to end the inning on with a double play, as Drew was
doubled up, following a pop up by Joel Lawrence, when he failed
to tag up. The Mavericks were unable to take advantage of this,
in the bottom of the third, as despite lead off walks from Rob
Wheeler and Jazz Brown, poor baserunning and 2 strikeouts, again
left the Mavs without a runner having reached third.
