Long balls move Macaws past Mavericks. 21-4

Dec

2018

Macaws visited Mavericks in Milnerton on Saturday with the intention of continuing the upward curve. And it did not take long for VOB to show they were serious by scoring 5 runs in their first inning via a 3-run bomb from Derick Bayliss and a 2-run shot from Lance Gordon.

Jesse Johnson started on the hill for VOB and he sat Mavericks down without scoring. A 2-out error by Mavericks followed by a hit by pitch put runners on 1st and 2nd with Jody Burch up. Burch then launched one for another 3-run bomb for VOB and an 8-0 lead after 2 innings. after an uneventful third inning Jesse Johnson opened the fourth inning with his second long ball of the season. A few more hits and the Macaws were up 10-0.

Then Johnson got sloppy on the hill and walked two before unnecessary sloppy baseball allowed Mavericks to score 3 runs to stay in the game at 10-3. Damian Perkins was called in to replace Johnson and immediately shut Mavericks down.

The floodgates opened for Macaws with Johnson hitting his second homerun of the game (a 2-run shot) and Lance Gordon, not to be outdone, hitting his second long ball of the game himself. By the end of the 6th VOB had scored 9 runs and needed 3 outs to finish the game. Two quick outs followed by some unnecessary base runners lead to Mavericks scoring one more run before Perkins struck out the final batter to give VOB a 21-4 victory and continue on their winning ways.

This young side is scoring plenty runs and need to continue working to clean up their overall game if they want to start competing with the top teams, but they are on the right track.

No Comments 2018 12 01From the DugoutMajor League baseballMajorsReviewsSnr BaseballWeekly Roundup

Giants 4 Macaws 19

Nov

2018

And unbeaten Giants team, who feature in all CTBF offensive, defensive and pitching categories, were soundly beaten by VOB Macaws on Saturday at Chukker Road.

Giants, riding an unbeaten start to the season, visited Chukker road intent on showing that their newly assembled team will be a force to be reckoned with this season, but they left with many questions unanswered.

Derrick Bayliss started on the hill for Macaws while giants countered with Jayson Ripepi. Giants immediately took a 1-0 lead, but were stunned when the Macaws scored four of their own in the first inning. By the third inning giants had clawed back to 2-5 and then scored 2 in the fourth inning to make it a 4-5 game when Jesse Johnson replaces Bayliss.

Ripepi was replaced by younger brother Kyle and that’s when the floodgates opened and VOB scored 9 runs in bottom of fourth blowing the game apart. Giants brought on lefty Carlo Koks but, smelling blood, the Macaws went for the jugular and scored five more runs in the fifth to end the game by mercy rule 4-19. A great comeback from last weekend’s disappointing results.

Best hitters for Macaws were Michael scritten (3-3,/HBP/BB), Jared JH Haynes (2-3, 2B, 2BB’s), Luke November (2-4, 2B, HBP) and Lance Gordon (1-1, 3 BB’s, SF).

[Show slideshow]

No Comments 2018 11 27From the DugoutMajor LeagueWeekly Roundup

Crusaders 17 VOB Macaws 18

Nov

2018

The first suspended game played at VOB in recent history started at 11h30 this morning. Last weekend crusaders let a 16-11 lead in the 9th inning of the game slip to allow the Macaws to score 5 runs to tie the game before bad light suspended the game. With a string of pinch hit and pinch run changes in the 9th, the Macaws clawed their way back to tie the game and force the extra inning/s a week later due to double headers last weekend.

Michael scritten continues on the mound while Crusaders countered with Ashwyn Kleintjies.

Scritten was in complete control and looked to be sitting crusaders down without scoring when two mishits scored a run before Scritten struck out Jarryd Williams with bases loaded. Macaws came out swinging and the first three hitters tied the game before a misfit to 3B by Liam Willemberg scored the deciding run to give VOB the win to finish off a very satisfying weekend.

This young team will be up and down until they get plenty more ML games under the belts, but they have shown that the future is good at VOB

No Comments 2018 11 24From the DugoutMajor LeagueWeekly Roundup

Macaws majors nightmare double header weekend.

Nov

2018

The first double header weekend of the season and what a time for the young Macaws to play their worst baseball this season. On Saturday it was home in a very tough wind against Grassy park Crusaders. This game will surely rank as the worst display of our young season, but luckily the boys pulled a rabbit out of the hat to score 5 runs in their last batting turn to level the game at 16-16 before bad light suspended the game.

Jesse Johnson got his second start and was not his fluent self, but he was hurt badly by his defense. Jesse pitched three complete innings and faced one batter in the 4th striking out 3 while also hitting 3 batters, before he was replaced. By that stage he had conceded 10 runs of which only 3 were earned runs. The defense made well over the recorded 7 errors with drop catches being the order of the day. Derick Bayliss relieved Jesse and, although he held crusaders to scoring only 3 more runs in 4 innings, he too was sabotaged by more errors. Michael Scritten took over from Derick and also conceded 3 runs and made one error himself.

With all these errors it would be tough trying to find positives, but scoring 16 runs ourselves must be a good thing. Jared Haynes (2-5, 2K’s, RBi), Luke November (3-6, SF, HBP), Damian Perkins (1-1, RBi), Lance Gordon (2-6, BB, SB, K, RBi) Marvin Mahoney (2-5, 2B, 2 RBi) and Jesse Johnson (1-2, 3 BB’s) RBi) contributed to the offensive side.

The most exciting part of this game happened in the Macaws last batting turn. Down 16-11 with one out in the 9th inning and the game all but over, this young team decided it was time to wake up and make a run at Crusaders. 2 hits followed by a HBP, pinch running and pinch hitting changes being made and all of a sudden we were in the game. A hit up the middle by lance Gordon scored the tying runs in the fast fading light. Then, with Lance on first and two down, an over eager attempt to get into scoring position ended the inning at 16-16. It was evident we would not be able to start a new inning so the game was suspended and will be completed in a week’s time due to the double header weekend.

Lots of lessons for these young players, but that’s what young teams do.

No Comments 2018 11 17From the DugoutMajor League

MaCaws beat down VDS with the next gen on show. 10-6

Nov

2018

Derick Smiling after his long homerun

The Macaws made the longest trip of the season down to Stellenbosch to face Van der Stel.

I was keen to see how this young team would respond to last weeks big loss to Bothasig.

Derick “Boy” Baylis got his chance to start and did not disappoint. Boy went 5 innings throwing only 71 pitches allowing 3 runs. Jesse johnson took over for his second ML pitching stint after his successful debut against Tygers two weeks ago. Not enjoying the big hole in the mound Jesse let that affect him and threw way too many balls in his 3.2 inning relief spell, but managed to keep VDS from coming back with some timely K’s. Jesse will have to learn how to handle the different obstacles if he is to be successful at this level as everything will not always be perfect. With two outs in the 9th Jesse was replaced by Zubair Larney who finished off the final hitter of the day with a K, proclaiming “why do pitchers make pitching so hard” LOL.

Talking about aggression and choices just before the bomb

On the hitting side what was very pleasing was the hard contact that was being made by the majority of the hitters, even if it did not always end in a hit. We also saw 3 homeruns in the game. Lance Gordon snuck one over a shortened right field before the fence was immediately moved further out. Jesse then followed with a long smash over left field for his maiden senior (not just ML) homerun. Not to be outdone, Derick followed his up double by launching one over the lengthened rightfield boundary. Luke squared (November and Budler) also got doubles on the day.

This very young team will learn every single week what they need to do if they are going to be successful in the majors, but they have already shown that they have the ability.

Our scorer Judy Beukes doing her selfless job brilliantly

The hard work continues this week in the hope of becoming consistent at this level.
Thanks, as always, to our behind the scenes scorer Judy Beukes for being the one constant scorer at VOB seniors.

No Comments 2018 11 03From the DugoutMajor League MajorsReviews

ML vs Bothasig 0-17

Oct

2018

Our home opener and the boys just never rocked up to play. From the very first inning we gave away walks and made errors and it never stopped till the end of the game. Macaws started with lefty Damian Perkins hoping to have a few pitchers stretched out over the next few weeks and hopefully make Bothasig something different. However walks, errors and one or two hits cost us big time today.

We faced SA pitcher Jared Elario who has been preparing for months for the French series and it showed. He mowed down our hitters with pace and precision. When we did get on base we could not capitalize.

With a very young team we will have good games and bad ones. Today was one of the latter. Now for our young boys to show character and start all over again next week.

Kevin Mullins and young Luke Budler got their first taste of ML baseball with Mullins also getting his first ML hit. Budler was comfortable in the outfield and ended the day playing all three outfield positions between u18,MLR and ML today.

No Comments FixturesFrom the DugoutMajor League 2018 Oct 27MajorsReviews

VOB pull off the unlikely with a stunning win vs Bellville.

Oct

2018

ML VOB vs Bellville 20-10-2018

Our opening game of 2018 was a road trip to PP Smit sports complex to face Bellville Tygers. Tygers have been a force over the last few seasons, but have not planned well for the future and I have seen the cracks started showing over the last two seasons. However, with the Macaws in their rebuild phase, Tygers would still be the favourites, especially at home.
Tygers had their SA pitcher, Kevin Townend, on the hill while the Macaws surprised by giving the ball, and his ML debut on the hill, to Jesse Johnson. Townend (3 IP, 3 hits, 2 BB’s, 2 K’s) and Johnson (3.1 IP, 2 hits, 1 BB, 2 K’s) had a good duel going for 2 innings before the Macaws exploded for 5 runs in the 3rd inning to rattle the Tygers.

Tygers replaced Townend with young Marcel Steyn, but he could not stop the bleeding and allowed a further 3 runs in the 4th inning before settling down. Steyn (3 IP, 3 hits, 4 BB’s, 3 K’s) was later replaced by Russel Olivier (3 IP, 6 hits, 2 K’s) who also gave up two runs in his stint on the hill.

The Macaws, meanwhile, looked to stay ahead and cause an upset. Johnson was replaced by newcomer, Damian Perkins, who happens to be the first lefty pitcher at VOB since Ruan Klink many years ago. Perkins (2.2 IP, 1 hit, 3K’s, 5 BB’s) managed to only give up 1 run, but was not as economical as he could have been. He did, however, manage to hold the lead before handing over to another newcomer, ex-KZN player Derrick Bayliss. Bayliss (3 IP, 5 hits, HBP, K) gave up 2 runs, but saw out the final 3 innings to give the Macaws a valuable opening Day win.

On the hitting front the Macaws surprised even more by outhitting a Tygers team ,that was minus a few players, 12-8. Bayliss had a dream debut going 3-3 (BB, SH, RBi) while Zubair Larney (2RBi’s), Jody Burch (RBi), Luke November (RBi) accounted for the runs scored in this game. As great as the result was VOB will have to be more clinical when runners are in run-scoring position as they left 13 on base.