Northstars and Hornets look to finish strong

This weekend sees the Northstars and the Hornets on the road as the 2015 season winds down. The Belfast Northstars travel to Cavan to take on the Comets in a double header that will see two teams jostling for the third place in the Baseball Ireland B League North.

Leading 2-1 in the season series, Darwin Sanchez’ team have already shown plenty of offensive punch. The first was a five inning affair with Sanchez himself providing 5 RBI and pitcher Melvin Woods, shortstop William Mitchell and third baseman Ian Walker all driving in two runs each. Wood would be his usual dominant self on the mound, allowing 4 hits, 1 run, 3 walks and striking out 8. The fifteen runs and thirteen hits the Stars generated was more than enough to finish the game early.

The second game would see the usually steady Darwin Sanchez struggle on the mound, allowing 13 hits and 18 runs over 6 innings. Fortunately for the Belfast side, the Comets starter Jason Beck was having his own issues.

With both teams also committing more errors than usual, the resultant slugfest would end only when Sanchez handed the ball to lefthander Woods who would then shut the door on the Cavan side in the seventh inning and the first of extras. Savvy baserunning would get David Gray into scoring position for Belfast and, as if to make up for previous indiscretions on the rubber, Darwin Sanchez would drive in his first baseman to walk off in a 19-18 thriller.

The third game would be another tight affair, again with Melvin Woods on the mound. On this most rare of occasions, the southpaw would be hit early and often for 18 hits and 13 runs. This time however, the Comets countered with Nick Pennington who would provide a much tighter line of defense for Cavan, allowing only 6 hits and 8 runs (4 ER) on the day. Unfortunately the Northstars bats simply couldn’t warm up and Belfast would fall 13-8.

With every point now being critical from here on in, the Stars will have to start hard and fast against the Comets.

The Belfast Hornets will travel slightly further south to the International Baseball Centre in Ashbourne to take on the Giants in what is their first meeting of the year.

This may well be the first of many meetings between these two sides at this late stage of the season due to scheduling conflicts and rainouts, but with games in hand the Hornets will realise that their destiny rides on their own shoulders in terms of the pennant race. The Belfast Buccaneers have already qualified for the postseason and the eight games that the Hornets have in hand may seem like a lot but with an ever-improving Giants side continually fighting for position in Baseball Ireland, Mark Smith will be looking to his senior players Colin Woods and John Want to ensure that no complacency creeps in to the expansion side.