Tag Archives: Sundbyberg Heat

The Sharks are coming back home!

It’s been a slow month for the fans situated in Gothenburg. The team has been playing two double headers away but they will squeeze in a double header home before the month is over. The newcomers Sölvesborg Firehawks will visit Shark Park Saturday 28th of June! Sölvesborg had a terrible start of the season but managed to catch some wins. They are six for fourteen, same as Karlskoga Bats.

The Gothenburg Sharks had a terrible set of games on the road versus Karlskoga and Sundbyberg. Lets hope that they can just forget about the games in Karlskoga and bring the offense back home from the Sundbyberg into the important double headers versus Sölvesborg on Saturday and get back into the series before it is far too late.

Karlskoga away (June 1)

Karlskoga has had some really good seasons the past years. Runner up in 2013 (lost the final vs Stockholm) and winner 2012. They were knocked out by the Gothenburg Sharks in the semi final 2011. Things have gone a bit slow this season though. Six wins after 14 games. Two of them versus the Sharks the first of June. The Sharks lost game one 10-0 after the Karlskoga, at times phenomenal, pitcher Paul Waterman shut down the Sharks completely. He allowed no hits, two walks and was noted for 8 strike outs. Kim Berglind started game one for the Sharks. He’s normally found in Uppsala but reinforced the Sharks. He allowed five hits and two runs in five full innings. Kristoffer Örjelund took over the mound in the sixth giving up three hits and seven walks in two and two thirds innings. Wilhelm Sundin took the Sharks and pitched a third of a inning but failed to prevent the tenth run (Kristoffer was responsible) and the game was ended premature in the eight.

Game two was pitched by the Karlskoga import Parker Talbert the first six innings allowing only one hit and Simon Andersson finished the Sharks off with a clean top seventh inning with one strike out and no hits, giving Talbert the win after Karlskoga scored 11 runs during the initial six innings. Jason Norderum and Hiba Nabi pitched game two. Jason gave up an unusual three earned runs (six scored during the first six) and Hiba added four earned and one unearned. During those seven innings the Sharks failed to get on the board heading back to Gothenburg scoreless.

Sundbyberg away (June 14).

Some two weeks later, on the 14:th of June, the Sharks travelled to Sundbyberg. Sundbyberg Heat have had a good 2014 season. They are one game behind Leksand Lumberjacks and four games behind the leaders Stockholm Monarchs.

The games vs Sundbyberg was the first one for Spencer Kreisberg who made his first appearance in the Swedish Elitseries since 2012 (playing for Karlskoga Bats). The Sharks lost the game 16-6 after seven innings. The frustrating part is that the Sharks let 16 runs of which 11 wasn’t earned! Spencer started on the mound for Gothenburg and had to see the Sundbyberg cross home plate ten times. Only one of those ten runs was earned. Hiba relieved one inning and had to let six runs of which four was earned. The game was ended premature in the seventh. Joe Lankford, and Spencer scored twice and Norderum and Melendez scored once. A multi hit day for the reinforcement Simon Tysk. Runs batted in by Laffin, Tysk, Melendez and Olivia.

Game two just want’s one that Gothenburg was supposed to win. Pitching wasn’t working, defense wasn’t working and the bats wasn’t working. Exception to that was the top of the batting order where Joe and Spencer did what they could. Both scored runs and both had extra base hits. Runs batted in by Laffin and Spencer.

Patrick Laffin have struggled this season. Half way through it his average has dropped from over .400 last season to .282 just now. He had 17 walks last year and halfway through this year he’s down to 2. Patrick is one of the keys to the Gothenburg offence, so lets hope that the numbers are going back to what they were last year and his team mates follow.

 

Weekend wrap up

The past weekend was full of baseball!

Leksand @ Gothenburg

Leksand Lumberjacks was visiting Gothenburg in the Elitseries. A beautiful day where the games was preceded by the national anthem and the ceremonial first pitch. A lot of people found their way to the Shark Park which was offering both sun and some occasional clouds! The spectators could not only enjoy the weather but also some good pitching from both teams. Even though the game was not as tight as a Shark fan would have hoped, it was an exciting one where the Sharks failed to produce enough runs in the end. Even though it wasn’t the failing factor in this game, the defense needs polishing. The Sharks seems to have problems producing the extra sharpness and have the quicker feet when needed for the final out. The passiveness or perhaps choosing a play with a lot of margin let Leksand on base a few too many times.

Game two featured pretty much all of the Gothenburg pitching staff available. Coach Anders did what he could to keep the arms fresh not letting each of them too many innings. Even though the runs let was a few too many, two runs scored is not enough to win a game on this level.

Game one ended 6-1 and the second game ended 12-2. Both games in favour of Leksand. A well deserved win according to how the game was played.

Malmö @ Gothenburg B

The Gothenburg team in the second division welcomed Malmö Pilots to Shark Park on the two Sunday games. The Gothenburg team featured youngsters,old timers and up and coming players who all share the love of the game. Malmö showed off some good pitching and a tight defense which made it hard for the Sharks to get on base. Malmö capitalized on some mistakes made by the Gothenburg defense but must be given the credit they deserved for their hot bats. Brian Jordan with the Pilots left the game 8 for 8.

Sölvesborg @ Stockholm

The first game of the day was a tight one. The game ended 2-0 to Stockholm. Jacob Claesson with the Stockholm Monarchs pitched all nine innings not giving up a single run. The Sölvesborg pitcher Eddie Aucoin gave up the game losing run in the forth. If game one was tight, game two was totally the opposite! Sölvesborg started out fine with a two run lead, but Stockholm took over after that. Karl Knutsson started off with the pitching and was relieved by Mathias Person for an inning. Karl then entered the mound once again, but failed to produce the energy to stand up for the Stockholm offense. Rickard Ödmo took them to an early finish in the sixth where the game ended 5-20. Stockholm is still undefeated but was challenged for the first time in game one.

Karlskoga @ Sundbyberg

The Karlskoga Bats was coming from back to back losses versus Leksand (0-10 and 1-2) and Sundbyberg on the other end was 2-0 versus Sölvesborg (1-17 and 4-7). The Bats took their first win of the season in game one but came up short in the second game. That puts Karlskoga one win ahead of Gothenburg. The Bats are off to Stockholm next.

Sundbyberg won todays game over Akademin comfortable 16-5 (7).

Gothenburg on the road

The Sharks will head for Sölvesborg on Saturday. Both teams are looking for their first wins of the season and someone will break their track record. Exiting weekend coming up.

Next home game

The next home game is May 24 when Sundbyberg is visting Shark Park!

And we’re off

Finally! The first game of the season is history and we can look forward to a new season of baseball!

The Sharks travelled to Stockholm for the first game. Stockholm had already begun their season with double header versus Leksand the previous week. Stockholm won those two games comfortably.

Jason Norderum started pitching in game one for the Sharks. He let one run, which wasn’t earned in the four innings he pitched. Eventually, Gothenburg let 10 runs, only giving up five hits. The amount of walks Gothenburg gave up turned out to be costly. The Claesson’s of the Stockholm pitching staff gave up four hits and two walks which the Sharks failed to capitalize on.

Game two were cut early due to the weather but they managed to squeeze in five innings. Gothenburg put themselves up on the board in the third inning when Jason hit a single to the right, where both Joe Lankford and Simon Tysk managed to score! Stockholm started game two by giving Hiba a severe headache. Stockholm scored no less than six runs in the first and four in the second. They managed to score once in the third, but the bleeding stopped there. However, those runs in the first and second was more than enough to put Gothenburg in the backseat and Gothenburg failed to recover. Gothenburg did as Leksand the week before, left Stockholm empty handed.

While Gothenburg was visiting Stockholm, Leksand won two games vs Karlskoga Bats. Karlskoga lost game one 10-0 and the game lasted only until seven innings. Game two was quite the opposite and was a tight game where Leksand came out on the front winning 2-1.

Sölvesborg who lost two games to the Akademin in their opening game got a visit from Sundbyberg. It was Sundbybergs first game of the season and they were pumped! Scoring no less than 17 times in game one. The second game got a bit tighter where Karl Knutsen pitched the entire game for Sölvesborg. Sundbyberg’s national team player Philip Gajzler drove in a two run homer in the ninth and set the final score to 4-7.

Leksand will go on the road and visit Gothenburg Sharks home opener on Shark Park. You are welcome to join us watching the ceremonial first pitch of the season and two exciting games! Please note that game one starts at 12.

Now the season is really over

The Sharks left the season semi early by winning the series versus Alby. We don’t know what would have happened if we lost that game. We do know that Alby lost two straight games to Sölvesborg and by that lost their Eliteseries status.

We welcome Sölvesborg to the Elitseries! Karl Knutsson lead Sölvesborg through the playoffs and finally to a spot in the highest league. Something the Sölvesborg team have been longing for (2:25 into this clip).

In the other end of the series we do have a winner! Stockholm did take one win away vs Karlskoga setting the score 1-1 after two games. When the series moved to Stockholm, the Stockholm team took no chances! Back to back wins where the first game saw no more than seven innings. We congratulates Stockholm for the 2013 title! Also, the Stockholm cadets took their fourth subsequent title! Very Impressive!

We’re keen to see what the Elitseries will actually look like the 2014 season. Skövde won a spot there some years ago but decided to not take it. In April 2014 we know for sure when the schedule is set, what to expect.

Final game of the regular season

It is time for the final game of the regular season! The Sharks are heading towards Sundbyberg to wrap up the season. Sometimes the games matters everything, sometimes not. This is one of the latter games. Even with two wins the Sundbyberg Heat can’t pass Leksand since they are on the same amount of wins and the tie breaker is the winner of the last game between them. Sundbyberg won the first game in the double header and Leksand the one that matters, the last game.

The Gothenburg Sharks could pass the Akademin with two wins. The Sharks are one game behind but the Akademin won the last game between them. The Akademin ended their season with the double header in Gothenburg on the national day, June 6. They play half the season. Regardless, that will only affect the position in the series. The Sharks will still have to play quallifications games to stay in the highest league.

Gothenburg did not catch any breaks in the games versus Karlskoga home, nor Leksand away. They were closer the first game and lost big in the second, both times. Since Kerry got injured after pitching 120+ pitches in one game early in the season the Sharks have had problems with pitching and releaf. The bullpen is simply not deep enough to go two full games in a series this season. With that said, I’m happy to see that both Ted and Hiba are going to Sundbyberg tomorrow. Ted (18 yo this year) have been too eager to pitch and play and haven’t caught up with his basic training and have been injured back and forth the entire season.

Hiba Nabi. Photo: Dennis Rosenqvist

Hiba Nabi. Photo: Dennis Rosenqvist

Hiba is another of the younger pitchers available (20 yo). Hiba started the second game versus Karlskoga two weeks ago and pitched six full innings. He did have some trouble commanding his pitches but overall I was impressed by Hiba. He did last six innings, he did strike out batters and he do got a few different pitches availble to him. Just get some more coaching during the games, some more innings pitched and he will become one of the corner stones in the Shark pitching. Ted pitched 1.2 innings in the second game versus Leksand last weekend. He started the first game away versus Stockholm May first, pitching three innings. He also pitched two full innings in the second game versus Sundbyerg almost a month ago. I hope that Ted could start taking care of his training and continue to develop as a pitcher and of course at bat so that we could see Ted play more games with quality pitching and no injuries. Those are the two I will follow closest tomorrow!

Best of luck in the last double header of the regular season!

Sundbyberg visiting Shark Park on Saturday

Sundbyberg Heat has two fewer games played than Stockholm and are four games behind. Two wins would take them a bit closer. Sundbyberg needs to take the upper hand on Gothenburg to advance further. They have Gothenburg, Stockholm, Alby and finally Gothenburg in the remaining eight games.

Sundbyberg has wins versus all teams in the top teams (Stockholm, Karlskoga and Leksand) this season and is currently holding third place in the series. The Sundbyberg pitching has been their best weapon and worst enemy. They kept Karlskoga from scoring early in the season and Michael Andersson only allowed five hits in that game. When their defense somewhat failed them, the offense has been there to pick up wins. They have scored ten runs or more in six of the seasons 14 games this far. In half of them, they allowed five runs or less.

Gothenburg needs to get a good feeling in the team before the play offs to stay in the Elitseries start. In theory Gothenburg could get a play off spot with back to back wins in the remaining eight games and Sundbyberg may not win more than two games in their double headers vs Stockholm and Alby. The same thing works vs Leksand but Leksand must not win more than one game in the four games vs Alby and Karlskoga. It would be wonderful, but with the Sharks track record for this season unlikely. Starting with a win in game one vs Sundbyberg would be a great start to the remaining eight games!

Joe Lankford had some extra practice this weekend when playing with the Elitserien Allstars in Nordic Baseball Classic.

Best of luck to the team the upcoming weekend!