Baseball: Honours even between New Forest Thunder Knights and Taunton Muskets

Chris Lawson stole the show as the New Forest Thunder Knights battled for a split against the Taunton Muskets on Sunday.

In a fiercely competitive day of baseball, the Knights showed their resolve to hold on for a game-two win in extra innings.

Lawson hit the first-ever home run for the newly formed south coast team before adding a second shortly afterwards. He also pitched two innings in relief.

Marcus Senior got into his groove as the second game went on, picking up 16 strikeouts in an impressive tandem performance with Mitch Sullivan at catcher.

Entering the first extra inning with the scores sitting at eight-all, the Knights performed heroics on defence to keep the score tied, with Rob Holbrook and Alex Frampton both throwing runners out at the home plate.

Then in the second additional inning, hits from Sam Williams and Danny Vinkler helped break the game open before Lawson closed out a 17-9 win.

Earlier in the day, the Muskets had edged a tight first game 7-6.

With the bases loaded twice in the first two innings, the away side could not push runs over the plate. However, a home run from Andres Bianco gave Taunton a six-run lead.

At this stage, the Knights showed their class, fighting back to level the game thanks to the bats of Sullivan, Lawson and Williams.

Despite shutting out the home side in four of the first five innings, the Knights could not prevent the Muskets from winning the game in the final inning. A single from Fumihito Yasuhara was enough to bring home the winning run.

Lawson’s colossal day with the bat and his pitching efforts earned him the Player of the Day honours.

The Thunder Knights are next in action when they travel to division leaders, Cardiff Merlins I, next Sunday.