Falcons and Kings even as new field is unveiled

On February 20 2011 the Imperial College Baseball Club officially opened their purpose built baseball facility in Harlington with a friendly visit from the neighbours, a crowd of two cow/horses.

However, despite their long faces and neighing, they were in for a treat with what was to be a thrilling doubleheader against second place Oxford Kings.

Plans for the field had begun last academic year, when the Baseball club first held practice at Harlington. The idea was put forward to Sport Imperial who reacted to the idea enthusiastically. They subsequently invested money and resources to build the baseball field, that now makes use of formerly under used space in Harlington.

The newly built field is now one of the finest in the country, and in addition to being the home of the Imperial Falcons, it will also serve as the primary grounds of British University Baseball, hosting a significant majority of Southern Division fixtures from now on. Mick Reynolds, head grounds keeper for Harlington sports ground, delivered a ceremonial first pitch in the opening ceremony to officially open the field. The games themselves were a tale of two extremes, the first a humbling loss where the previously undefeated Falcons were simply outplayed by the Kings. Oxford dominated Imperial on both pitching and hitting, handing us an 11 run defeat.

Losing the second game would have dropped the Falcons into second place, and left Oxford in pole position heading into the final month of the season. But as if by “bush” magic a fire was seen to be ablaze in the distance, perhaps it was the fumes which spurred on the Falcons or the imagery. Nevertheless, showing the same resilience that defined the season of comebacks the frozen Falcons were thawed; the Falcons played true to form in the second game against the Kings.

Hajime Urata pitched brilliantly, shutting down the imposing Oxford line-up, holding them to just one run. Several key defensive plays behind him by Dexuan Hong in Center Field and First Baseman Jun (the great wall) Weng helped Hajime on the mound, which gave Imperial’s bats time enough to shake off the first game and put seven runs on the board.

With the split, the Falcons remain at the top of the Southern Division at five wins and one loss. We remain in control of our destiny as we will retain our title if we win both our games on Saturday against the Southampton Mustangs. The last time the two teams met, was in a five all draw in the Fall Cup.

Although the season is soon coming to a close, interested newcomers are still very welcome to join and are encouraged to contact the Baseball Club - baseball@imperial.ac.uk