Bristol Baseball Update late June 2017

Bristol Bats and Badgers have been busy over the last three weeks with both teams sitting in first and second place in the North section of the league after only losing one game each. Below you can read their reports from the last two weekends courtesy of Bristol Baseball:


Bristol Badgers bounced to beat St Austell Claycutters 21-3 on Sunday 11th June in the South West Baseball League (SWBL) at Somerdale Pavilion in Keynsham.

On the same day in Exeter, the Bristol Bats were gunned down 16-1 by the Exeter Spitfires and a strong pitching performance by the Devon side’s Eli Hackney-Rose.

The Badgers’ victory was built on an MVP performance from Par Eliasson who hit his first ever home run, drove in six runs and made a great play at third base.

Pitcher Deivydas Trinkunas had another strong outing from the mound striking out 10 Claycutters over 5.2 innings while newcomer Rob Davies got his first ever hit and turned it into a triple after some great heads up base running.

“It was a much better performance this week and gets us back on track for the second half of the season,” said Tom Hollies, the Badgers’ manager. “I am particularly delighted with the way guys new to the game are learning every week and making significant contributions on and off the field.”

The Bats lost the lead early in Exeter and never got to grips with the Spitfires’ pitching with only Ashley Pooley and Rich Green registering hits.

The Spitfires’ batters broke free with 11 runs in the 4th and 5th innings which included a three run home run.

“We knew we were going to be in for a tough game against a quality pitcher,” said Bats’ manager Billy Vickery. “The important thing is to learn lessons from Sunday and work on specific drills during training to.”

Both Bristol teams have a weekend off but resume league fixtures on Sunday 25th June with the Badgers hosting the Exeter Spitfires at Somerdale while the Bats travel to St Austell to take on the Claycutters. Both games start at 12 noon.


A walk off bunt at the bottom of the 9th inning by centre fielder Nik South,  sealed a thrilling 8-7 comeback win for the Bristol Badgers against the Exeter Spitfires on Sunday 25th June.

The Bristol team were trailing 7-6 with just three outs left. After Nerius Tamosiunas struck out, a double by Rhian Theaker got things moving before Tom Hollies was walked.

With two men on base, short stop Par Eliasson drove in Theaker to tie the scores with a ground rule double which also moved Hollies to third base.

MVP South then laid down a perfect bunt to score Hollies and seal the last gasp victory for the Badgers.

“This was just a fantastic and nerve racking game of baseball,” said Badgers manager Tom Hollies who pitched a complete game, striking out 13 Spitfires and allowing just three earned runs. “The whole team showed the sort of mental resilience we needed.”

Down in Cornwall, the Bristol Bats ran out comfortable 29-11 winners over the St Austell Claycutters.

First baseman Paul Carter was the Bats MVP who got five hits driving in four runs. Carter also pitched two scoreless innings to finish the game in the seventh inning.

On a day when the Bats’ offense registered 23 hits, newcomers Charlie Coggans and Tom Rowe were outstanding.

Coggans hit a triple and two doubles driving in four runs while Rowe also hit four RBIs without being out during his six plate appearances.

“Whilst we were able to get a lot of bat on ball. it was great to have Ricky Gellatly giving a strong pitching performance,” said Billy Vickery, manager of the Bats. “Both Tom Rowe and Charlie Coggans only started playing this season and it was great to see them make such valuable contributions on and off the field.”


Next Sunday (2nd July) the Bats host the Plymouth Mariners at Somerdale Pavilion in Keynsham while the Badgers travel to Newton Abbot to take on the Brewers. Both games start at 12 noon and spectators are welcome.

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