Majestic Minotaurs leave Dukes deflated
Originally written for Richmond Baseball Club and published at Richmondbaseball.co.uk - News
Finsbury Park, London, Sunday 12th June 2022
London Minotaurs flexed their muscles and flashed the leather as they beat Richmond Dukes emphatically in both games of their doubleheader this past Sunday.
It was a near flawless performance from the home side, who consistently barrelled up the baseball, found the gaps, and put up crooked numbers on the board in multiple innings. Their impressive offence was backed up by superb defence, as they made crucial plays in pivotal moments. SS Oscar Russell was outstanding on day. Whatever Richmond hit, he scooped up, making difficult plays look effortless.
All the luck seemed to go against Richmond. They made hard contact several times, taking full of advantage of the incredibly short left and centre field fences. 2B Alvin Michael started off game 1 with a deep fly ball over left centre field for a ground ball double. P Sam Hofbeck followed suit in the 2nd inning, and SS Toby Reynolds also in the 5th. Unfortunately, they were only solo shots, and Richmond were unable to keep the momentum going. With runners in scoring position, they struck out, ground out or popped out weakly to the infield, leaving 12 runners on base over the two games.
Richmond were uncharacteristically subdued under the blazing hot sun, and made repeated errors in big spots, lengthening innings and letting London extend their lead. In the end that was the difference between these rivals - London’s 2 defensive errors to Richmond’s 9.
LF Andy Nendick was one of the few bright spots in a lacklustre Richmond performance. His hot start to the season continued, as he belted two ground rule doubles that sailed over the centre field fence, going 3-6 for the day, and .667 / .933 / 1.621 for the season.
Noah Kidron-Style was the winning pitcher in game 1, ousting his counterpart Sam Hofbeck just as he did in their match up two weeks ago. Kidron-Style pitched a complete game with 5 K, 4 BB, 3 ER off 5 hits. He received ample run support in the 2nd inning when London scored 5, and another 4 in the 4th. It proved to be more than enough as Richmond couldn’t find a second gear and succumbed to their second loss of the season, 9-3.
Game 2 was over almost as soon as it had begun. London poured on the pain and scored 15 unanswered runs in the opening 3 innings. They were relentless at the plate from one to nine in the batting order. CF Jacques Smith and 2B Dave Bruce had stand out performances, each going 2-2 with 4 RBI. Russell rounded off his stellar defensive performance with a perfect 3-3 at the plate, and 1B Ben Ward was 2-3 to round off the top London performers.
At the beginning of the 4th and final inning London were 17 runs ahead. Richmond have shown resilience, heart, and a never-give-up attitude throughout their season to date, and it was out on display again. They loaded the bases, scored 4 runs, and even when they were down to their last out they continued to battle, putting runners in scoring position again. But there wasn’t to be a miracle comeback this time. Tom Marsden struck out Callum Watts looking for the final out of the game to record the win for London - the final score 18-5.
The two wins brings London back into contention in the BBF Single A South Central-B division, and knocks Richmond off the top spot. Perhaps more significantly, it gives London the edge in their head-to-head with Richmond 3-1, but with only a part way through the season, there is a lot of baseball left to play, and many more twists and turns to come.