Chelmsford, 6th June
The Mavericks’ winning streak was brought to an abrupt end today against the new-to-the-league Chelmsford Clippers. The team’s enthusiasm and confidence were not dampened by the long journey and surprisingly humid weather (make your mind up England!) as well as a lack of game-balls which, according to the Clippers’ pitcher, had been left at home by “some idiot.” Eventually the game started when some replacements were found whilst the game-balls were being retrieved.

Strong defence from both teams meant that runs were kept to a minimum early on. However a strike zone that forced pitchers to server up strikes right down the middle, meant that not only were players getting on base largely thanks to walks, but also that normally good control of the Mavericks pitchers were essentially nullified. Both teams kept apace with each other run-for-run throughout the first few innings until the Mavericks bats came alive in the top of the 6th and Guildford took a 7-6 lead, that was stretched to 8-6 an inning later.

However it fell apart for the Mavericks in the last couple of innings as their strong defence committed several errors and gave up further walks that saw Kevin Zanes coming in to replace starting pitcher Owen Hazelby. A loose throw, a base running mistake, heads going down, and all of a sudden the Clippers had an 11-8 lead.

Needing 3 to make the Clippers bat again in the bottom of the 9th, the Mavericks succumbed meekly, and the game finished with a disappointing inning thanks to the Clipper’s strong defence. The final result was Clippers 11, Mavericks 8. That said, their were the offensive highlights which included a Jeremy Abel home run as he went 3 for 6 on the day, and a couple of hits from Thom Doggert

Next week is the last week of a 4 game road trip with a game against the league leading Richmond Dragons.

Thanks to Jeremy Abel for the report