Stockton Grizzlies - Birmingham Bats
Match Report for Sunday 16/6/24 brought to you by Rugby Taekwon-do Academy
This weekend the Stockton Grizzlies welcomed the Birmingham Bats, looking to continue their impressive start to the year with the first home win of the season at The Den.
Seasoned starting pitcher Lu Choy took to the mound once again to face former friends turned foes, following his shock trade between the teams last season. The bats took flight early in the game and notched up a four run lead before the final out of the 1st.
Although the Grizzlies struggled to wield the wood, Choy returned strong with only a rocket stopped at the hot corner coming between him and striking out the side.
Manager David Millward called for patience in the second and patience he received. Infamous slugging first baseman Robert Kenneth Norris took the first walk and was followed shortly after by his pitcher. The patience paid off as hard hits by Liam Griggs, Yasu Ohno and Carlos Nino brought the game back to all square.
Top of the third brought a scoreless inning, including a sneaky veteran move to pick off the runner at first. Three up…three down. An equally strong performance in the field by Birmingham meant a quick inning with neither team making any ground.
Choy was feeling it now and rolled through the next two innings scoreless with four more strikeouts and an impenetrable infield behind him. The Grizzlies were more than warmed up at the plate now too. Carlos Nino proving his level once again with a second double of the game, 5 RBI’s and counting. Recent stateside acquisition (and masterful graphic artist) Ryan Mushinski stepped up and pushed another across the plate before El Nino returned to make it an even 6 RBI’s for the game.10-4 going into the top of the 6th folks.
After a powerful outing, Choy was relieved in the 6th by Albie Waterton. Opening with a strike out, the inning also saw an impressive outfield snag by another substitute Rob Cumming at right field. Some might call it a managerial masterclass…not me though.
The name of the game was “Rob” in the bottom half of the inning, with both Mr Cumming and Mr Norris dispatching RBI singles, only to be scored themselves moments later by an in-form Yasu Ohno. Not to be outdone, Nino finished the inning off with another RBI single taking his total to seven for the game.
Score standing at 16-4 the Grizzlies knew they were a tight inning away from a mercy rule win. Light could be seen at the end of the tunnel for the Bats as the fought one run over the plate, but it wouldn’t be enough to overcome a strong team outing and the game was forced to an end on the base paths. All said and done the final score was 16-5.
An amazing game to watch with ups and downs for both teams, the Grizzlies managed to bounce back from their first league loss in style.
Speaking to manager David Millward after the game he had this to say: “We got off to a bit of a slow start, but Lu and Albie had a really great command on the mound for the remainder of the game, and our fielders backed them up really well. I was pleased to see the guy’s bats starting to get hot again, and happy to get back on it after our first loss. Hopefully this gets us back on track to build on our positive start to the season.”
With a great day of baseball under our belt the Grizzlies look forward to being back at the Den on the 30th of June for their next league fixtures. A massive thanks again to our Match Report Sponsors, Rugby Taekwon-do Academy.
