What could turn out to be the final season opener at Christ’s College was staged against the Bracknell Blazers on Sunday . Just as in last weeks game at Croydon, the Mavericks took an early lead, but  unlike last weeks game it was nail biting stuff  the rest of  the way . The lead switched hands  several  times, with the Blazers  taking   a 1 run lead in the 8th, and  a two run lead into the ninth , before finally  closing out the game  not quite as comfortably as the final score suggests. 

The game started out very much a defensive battle, as despite a couple of Guildford runs in the bottom of the first, there were no more crossing the plate, until the Blazers tied it up in the 4th. The Mavericks almost re-took the lead in the bottom half of the inning, but a fierce line drive from Owen Hazelby with runners on first and second, was held onto by Bracknell shortstop Nogami. 

A run apiece in the 5th inning with the Mavericks run coming on a Marty Poulter RBI single, left the game tied at 3-3. The Blazers then appeared to break the game open with a 3 run 6 inning, after Mavericks starter Owen Hazelby had left the game. Not to be out done, Guildford came right back, as despite having the first two batters retired, James Cumper singled and Rob Shaw also reached, before Pete Badenhuizen put a 2-1 pitch over the centre field fence to tie the game at 6. It was the first Maverick home run of the season. 

With both sides having gone to their bullpen by now, hitting began to take over. Using a combination of two of well hit doubles into the gaps, a couple of walks, and some errors by the Mavericks defense, the Blazers were able to put 5 runs on the board in the 7^th. However Guildford were also able to take advantage of some similarly wayward Bracknell pitching, as they loaded the bases up in the bottom half of the inning, which Mike Burdett duly cleared with a double down the right field line. The deficit was now cut to just a single run. 

Despite hitting a batter in the 8^th inning, Marty Poulter gave up just a single Bracknell run, which the Mavericks should have clawed straight back, but were unable to do so, despite Jeremy Abel’s lead off single. So going into the 9^th, the Mavericks trailed by a couple and with the heart of the order coming up, looked to be in with a great chance of taking the game, if they could keep the Blazers from adding to their total. 

Unfortunately this didn’t turn out to be the case. Bracknell added 4 runs on 2 Guildford errors and a couple of hits, which should have seen them retired without scoring.  Despite having over half of the Guildford hits on the day, the top of the Mavericks order failed to reach base, after an initial Rob Shaw single, with Mike Burdett flying out to end the game. 

There now comes a break in the schedule for the Bank Holiday, before the Mavericks travel to Southampton the following week to re-new rivalries with the South Coast side.

  

Christs College, Sunday, April 27, 2008 Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Bracknell 0 0 0 2 1 3 5 1 4 16 11 2 Guildford 2 0 0 0 1 3 4 0 0 10 14 4 BRACKNELL Batter AB R H RBI BB SO Yananouki 3b 5 1 2 1 1 0 Kant Nogami 2b 5 2 1 0 1 1 Leo Nogami ss 4 3 0 0 2 0 Jones 1b 6 2 1 2 0 0 Kiddie c 6 2 2 1 0 1 Huxley p 5 2 2 2 0 0 .Brigman lf 4 2 1 1 2 2 Salter cf 4 1 1 1 0 1 James rf 3 1 1 1 2 1 Totals 42 16 11 9 8 6 Batting 2B: Huxley 3 (Poulter) RBI: Yananouki, Jones 2, Kiddie, Huxley 2, .Brigman, Salter, James 2-out RBI: Huxley Scoring position: 7 for 23 Team LOB: 9 Baserunnning SB: Yananouki 8 (2nd off Hazelby/Armstead, 3rd off Hazelby/Wheeler, 2nd off Hazelby/Wheeler, 2nd off Poulter/Wheeler, 3rd off Poulter/Wheeler, 2nd off Poulter/Wheeler) Fielding E: L. Nogami, Huxley PB: Kiddie Pitcher IP H R ER BB SO HR Huxley 9.0 14 10 8 6 5 1 Totals 9.0 14 10 8 6 5 1 HBP: Salter 2 (by Poulter) Pitches-strikes: Huxley 76-52 Ground balls-fly balls: Huxley 13-8 Batters faced: Huxley 48 GUILDFORD Batter AB R H RBI BB SO Peter Badenhuizen ss 5 3 4 4 1 0 Owen Hazelby p-lf 6 1 1 1 0 0 Michael Burdett cf 6 1 3 3 0 0 Rob Wheeler 1b-c 5 0 1 0 0 0 Nick Jolly 3b 3 0 0 0 0 0 Jeremy Abel 3b 2 0 1 0 0 0 Marty Poulter lf-p 4 0 1 1 1 3 Jazz Brown 2b 4 1 1 0 1 1 James Cumper rf 3 1 1 0 0 1 Phill Nathan rf 1 1 0 0 1 0 Heather Armstead c 1 0 1 0 1 0 Rob Shaw lf-1b 2 2 0 0 1 0 Totals 42 10 14 9 6 5 Batting 2B: R. Wheeler (Yananouki); M. Burdett (Yananouki) HR: P. Badenhuizen (Yananouki) RBI: P. Badenhuizen 4, O. Hazelby, M. Burdett 3, M. Poulter 2-out RBI: P. Badenhuizen, M. Burdett 2, M. Poulter 2 Scoring position: 6 for 18 Team LOB: 11 Baserunnning SB: P. Badenhuizen (3rd off Yananouki/Kiddie); O. Hazelby (2nd off Yananouki/Kiddie) Fielding E: P. Badenhuizen, R. Wheeler, J. Abel 2 Pitcher IP H R ER BB SO HR O. Hazelby (L) 5.0 5 3 3 1 2 0 M. Poulter 4.0 6 13 10 7 4 0 Totals 9.0 11 16 13 8 6 0 Pitches-strikes: O. Hazelby 28-24; M. Poulter 60-30 Ground balls-fly balls: O. Hazelby 5-8; M. Poulter 5-4 Batters faced: O. Hazelby 21; M. Poulter 31 Game Stats Time: 03:20 Weather: Overcast