Oldham North Stars 8 v Newton Aycliffe Spartans 7
Oldham North Stars 5 v Newton Aycliffe Spartans 12
Newton Aycliffe Spartans (5-1) remain at the summit of the British Baseball Federation AA Northern Division as they shared the spoils last weekend in their first away trip of the season against Oldham North Stars
In game 1, the sides were level at 5-5 after 3 innings before Spartans edged in front towards the conclusion of game one 7-6 needing to record just three outs in the 7th inning to win the game. However the home side showed just how unpredictable baseball is by winning the game with a walk off home run which brought home two batters and the win by 8-7. Bryan Dunkel had 3 runs batted in (rbi’s) and Mark Austins had 2 for the Spartans.
But to give credit to the Spartans, they turned despair into triumph by turning up the heat on their hosts. Holding a slender 4-2 lead going into the 3rd inning, Ian Porley blew the game open with a grand slam home run as the Spartans scored 5 unanswered runs. Steve Rixon and Bryan Dunkel also hit home runs with Bryan Dunkel also in great form pitching, as he struck out 9 Oldham batters for his 3rd winning pitching performance of the year.
Spartans are next in action on Sunday 25th May when they travel to the North West again to face Bolton Robots of Doom. Bolton will be the visiting team to Spartan Field in Shildon on Sunday June 1st.
British Baseball Federation
AA Northern Division – Standings
Team P W L
Newton Aycliffe Spartans 6 5 1
Liverpool Trojans 4 3 1
Sheffield Bladerunners 6 4 2
Bolton Robots of Doom 6 3 3
Oldham North Stars 4 1 3
Manchester A’s 4 1 3
Harrogate Cubs 6 1 5
A full fixture list and more information on the Spartans can be found at www.newtonaycliffespartans.co.uk
