Another sold start by the Mavericks but another mid game collapse, saw Guildford succumb to the Southampton Colts after a disastrous 4th inning.
Neck and neck through
the first 3 and half innings, the Mavericks undoing came in the 4th
when too many walks, some basic fielding errors and a
failure to capitalise on the oppositions weak offence, allowed the
Colts to break the game open. As is often the case in baseball,
heads went down as the runs piled up, and it was just too much of an
insurmountable lead to pull back. A small strike zone didn't
help, with nothing given on the corners, and anything across the
letters being deemed too high, although that said it was consistent
for both sides.
The Mavericks day was summed up on one particular defensive play, as
catcher Rob
Wheeler
after a pop up along the first base line, was within a step of
reaching it, when he collided with pitcher Marty Poulter who had had
the same idea. Probably comical looking from the sidelines, but
typical of what went on, on a hot May day.
Andy Sheridan - back after injury
On the plus side, Andy Sheridan on his return from a year's absence due to injury, went 5 for 6,and came within inches of a home run, scoring a ground rule double. Nick Jolly unfortunately suffered an injury while base running in the sixth which forced him to leave the game, and again with a depleted bench, there was little to turn to in his absence.
Rik Tavers - 3 hits
Overall the Mavericks
committed too many errors and Southampton capitalised on them. The
Mavericks were unable to stop the Colts running game, not holding
runners well, and after they took the lead generally losing focus.
Again the top of the order dominated for Guildford, but it was good
to see both Rik Travers and Dave Jones
contributing lower down the order.
Without doubt, the
fact that the Mavericks yet again were short in the pitching dept,
meant that Marty had to soldier on regardless. It is certainly an
area that
needs
attention, and more than that, resources, as most teams these days
rely on at least a couple of pitchers to complete a game. The loss
of TJ Sheridan and up to now Ally Carr, have impacted Guildford's
pitching depth, and ability to compete, late into games. It is good
to see the batting side of things picking up, but the team need to
back this up with better defence in the field.
Marty Poulter - Little help from his defense
Next week, the Mavericks travel to the Thames Valley Bisons, for their first ever league meeting with the team from Reading.
Rob Wheeler- 3 hits
| Southampton 11th May 2008 | ||||||||||
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
| Guildford | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 16 | 19 | 5 |
| Southampton | 2 | 2 | 2 | 18 | 5 | 2 | 31 | 18 | 4 | |
| Southampton | Guildford | |||||||||||||
| Batter | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | Batter | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | |
| Tu SS, P | 4 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | Rob Shaw CF | 6 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | |
| Kuo 2B | 4 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | Andy Sheridan SS | 6 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| Jinnah 3B | 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 0 | Rob Wheeler C | 6 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | |
| Mitchell C | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | Nick Jolly 1B | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Harper CF | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | Marty Poulter P | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| Thomas RF | 2 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | Jazz Brown 2B | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | |
| Bent 1B | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | Rik Travers LF | 5 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Morley LF | 5 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | Dave Jones 3B, 1B | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| Campbell DH | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | Phill Nathan RF | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Lewandowski P, 3B | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Jeremy Abel 3B | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Wayne CF | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Ben RF | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | ||||||||
| Duggan 1B | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||
| Grant LF | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Totals | 36 | 31 | 18 | 12 | 17 | 9 | Totals | 48 | 16 | 19 | 9 | 10 | 6 | |
| Batting | ||||||||||||||