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Guildford,
April 30th, 2005.
Saturday saw the first return game
of the season, as Guildford met Richmond in a rematch of the season
opener 3 weeks ago, with the Mavericks hoping to avenge a narrow 2
run loss. The game was switched from Richmond to Guildford, as a
result of scheduling problems at Richmond, although the Dragons
still played this as their home game. However, that was about all
that went the Mavericks way, as the Dragons ran out comfortable
winners 25-4.
Although Guildford avoided the big
first inning, that had plagued them in recent weeks, having
themselves being retired in order, they were still unable to stem
the flow of runs, as the Dragons scored on a wild pitch and a single
by Steve Tisi. The Mavericks were then retired without scoring in
the second, with just a single from Duncan Phillippo, but it was the
bottom half of the inning where richmond really took control. The
Dragons scored eight times batting round on 7 hits, and a couple of
hit batters, including an RBI double from Steve Tisi.
With base hits from Peter
Badenhuizen and James Geraghty, the Mavericks looked to pulling
themselves back into the game, but a base running error, put paid to
any chances of scoring, and Richmond extended their lead further on
a Rich Janakowsky double and a couple of walks in the bottom of the
inning.
A couple of fly ball outs put paid
to the Mavericks in the 4th, and yet again Richmond scored in their
half of the inning, with 3 of the 4 runs being unearned on 4 errors
in the field by the Mavericks.
A pattern was now beginning to form, as the Mavericks went 1-2-3 in
the top of the 5th, all on fly balls. It was becoming noticable that
the Dragons were much better at putting the ball on the ground, and
not giving the defense a chance to make a play, whereas although the
Richmond outfield was the busier of the two, they weren't missing
anything that came their way. This was seen with 3 more runs coming
in to the bottom of the inning all off singles.P, Marty Poulter
With Lally coming in to replace Ian
Cox in the 6th inning, the ball still dominated the bat, as 2 K's
and a ground out, send the Mavs down in order, in what was turning
into a rout. Maverick starter Marty Poulter was now beginning to
tire, not helped by the number of extra outs he was having to get,
and this was apparent as he walked 6 batters, and gave up one base
hit on the way to 6 run inning.
With the game now out of reach, the
Mavericks bats came alive in the 7th inning, scoring 4 times off
Dragon reliever Falla.
 RBI
singles from James Geraghty, Dave Jones and Jasmine Brown, got
Guildford on the scoreboard, but the game ended under the slaughter
rule as Jamie Barnett found his favourite CentreField target, on yet
another fly ball.
Overall the Mavericks were soundly
beaten in every department. That said, starter Marty Poulter was in
and around the plate for most of the game, but some basic errors -
both mental and physical - by the defense, together with a Dragons
line up that was very capable of laying bat on ball, meant
 that
runs scored in every inning. As with last season, it was also very
noticable that the Mavericks bats are struggling early in the
season. What was most disappointing was the fact that against the
same pitching the Mavericks scored 19 times in the first game, and
really should have made this game more competitive.
RBI single - Jasmine Brown
The were some highlights in the
performance, notably James Geraghty who had a couple of hits, and
fielded 1B very well, in his first game at that position, and Rob
Wheeler must be commended for keeping the morale of the side up, and
trying hard until the end.
Maverick MVP : James Geraghty MVP - James Geraghty, 2 for 3
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