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Adam “Double A” Ableman and his wife Danielle gave birth to a baby boy on January 26th at 7:30am. Aaron Jude Ableman weighed in at a generous 8 lbs 9 oz. Mom and baby Aaron are happy, healthy and ready to take on the world.
On behalf of the MudHens squad and their families, wThe Hens family continues to grow

Adam “Double A” Ableman and his wife Danielle gave birth to a baby boy on January 26th at 7:30am. Aaron Jude Ableman weighed in at a generous 8 lbs 9 oz. Mom and baby Aaron are happy, healthy and ready to take on the world.

On behalf of the MudHens squad and their families, we wish you luck and good health with your new family member. We hope to see the entire Ableman clan at the yard soon...
e wish you luck and good health with your new family member. We hope to see the entire Ableman clan at the yard soon...

A great season in 2009 for the Hens no matter how you look at it. They made it 8 games into the play-offs; knocking off the 3rd place team in the quarter finals and took the Lutz Cup winning #1seeded team to the last game of the 5 game semi-final series. No matter, it was a good show and it proved that the Hens have the solid squad needed to compete in this league. Quoting team Manager, Dan Pokoradi: “The Hens are a first rate squad and 2009 was another growth pattern that we have always wanted. 2007, our inaugural year as the MudHens, produced the Legends Cup (B-pool champs), 2008 brought the Lutz Cup (top pennant record for the regular season at 17-3) and 2009 took us into the top Vintage round deep into the semi-finals. Next stop....THE WHOLE THING and the kitchen sink too!” With the drive to succeed, the MudHens can very well achieve that goal. Some tweaks to the roster and lessons learned through the season will provided positive results next year.

Despite the regular season being wrapped up for the season in BVB, the MudHens continue to find ways to keep the gloves from a “long sleep.” Just last weekend, the Hens travelled to the Oakville Fall Classic and played three games over the weekend despite the weather issues. A lot of good baseball and fun with some familiar characters from around the old loop. Many thanks to Rich Knight and the Golden A’s for hosting us again. The Hens will continue to find some pickup games through October where they can and for some, a little travel south to Arizona and Florida to play some tournament ball. All in an effort to push off storing the equipment for as long as they can.

The BVB MudHens want to thank all the sponsors from 2009 as well as the fans and family that came out to support us throughout the season. The BVB MudHens will continue to keep you updated on team and clubhouse activities throughout the winter via the website. A great season in 2009 from a great group of players. We will all look forward to the gatherings throughout the off-season and it will be spring in no time.

GO HENS!

The BVB MudHens own Pat "Patch" Adams and his wife, Carli have had their first child. Born on October 2nd at 3:24am they welcomed Harper Lana Victoria Adams into the world at a healthy 8lbs.2oz. Mom and baby are doing great. CONGRATS TO CARLI & PAT from the team! All the best in the future for you and your daughter.

Last evening at Nelson Park, the deciding game 3 of the first round play-off series between the Cardinals and the MudHens was won by the Hens 7-6. Once again, strong steady pitching by Will Elliot, Steve Pepi and Paul Thomas coupled with a solid defensive effort allowed the Hens to squeak out a very close game.

The Cardinals certainly do not lack any firepower at the plate but the injury to their first basemen Jason Saker in the games third inning certainly gave an advantage to the Hens. The former Hen, Saker is one of the BVB’s most stubborn batters and has established him as very tough out; his absence was a factor. Hats off to the Cardinals for playing a straight up series approached with class and dignity.

The Hens took an early 3 run lead in the top of the 1st inning thanks in large part to Mike Blaney continuing to be an RBI machine. Mike hit a double to the gap that cashed Brenner Everts and Brian Ferguson. The Cardinals responded in the bottom of the inning with a bases loaded double by Jeff Gilleland bringing in all three runners. The last six innings were characterized by solid pitching and defense on both sides of the diamond as the Hens pushed another 4 runs across to the Cardinals’ 3 runs.

As mentioned earlier, this year marked the departure of the former play-off system of separating the top 4 teams with the next 4 teams to play for separate Championships. In a pre-season move that recognized the increase in league talent and team parity it went to an 8 team seeded format. This was proven to be an exciting format as the 6th seeded MudHens are joining the 5th seeded Hobos in the Vintage Semi-finals.

The MudHens now move on to a best of 5 game series with the Brewers. Game 1 against the Brewers will be played Tuesday September 8th at Nelson Park, start time 7:00pm.

The BVB playoffs started this weekend. In the off-season, it was recognized that the League in general has increased in skill and parity. The BVB responded to this by changing the play-off format from previously splitting the top four teams to the Vintage Cup bracket and the next four teams compete for the Legends Cup. This year, the top 8 teams squared off for the Vintage Cup in a best of 3 opening round series. If you dropped the first series you then moved to the Legends Cup bracket.

This weekend saw the 6th seeded MudHens square off against the 3rd seeded Cardinals. The season result was one game a piece. One in convincing fashion by both teams so it was evident from the start it would be a hotly contested series. Game 1 on Friday August 28th saw the Cardinals better the Hens by a 3-1 score. Great pitching and very clean defense by the Cardinals was the difference. The Hens also received great pitching from Will Elliot, Rob Fisher, and Brennan Burnside but a couple of defensive miscues resulting in unearned runs gave the Cardinals the win. Jason McKay went 2 for 3 at the plate while playing strong defense behind the dish; Brian Ferguson had 1 hit to round out the Hens offense.

Game 2 on Sunday August 30th started out much the same way with the Hens backing themselves into a corner with some early defensive problems. The pitching held firm though and the Hens escaped three separate innings only giving up one run in each when the Cardinals had runners in scoring position with less than two outs. Big hits by Will Elliot, Adam Ableman and Craig Clements provided the offensive boost to give the Hens pitching the room required. Steve Pepi comes away with his first Hens play-off win on the mound going two strong innings allowing one unearned run. Rob Fisher came in to close the door with two scoreless innings making the final 7-3 and evening the series at one game a piece.

Game 3 goes Tuesday Sept. 1st, the game has been moved from Ireland Park to Nelson Park start time 7pm. See you at the Yard!

The 2009 BVB MudHens closed their regular season play last evening with a tight 5-4 loss to the Tigers at Nelson in the early slot. A 10-8-2 (.550) record for the year was the final tally. A couple of missed opportunities defensively and at the plate with men in scoring position left the Hens in a hard spot. With two men on, two out, they could not “seal the deal” to knock the Tigers out of second place and possibly secure a 5th place slot for themselves. The MudHens now look to face off against the Cardinals (who were left in 3rd place due to the Tiger’s win) in the first round of the play-offs.

Game one is on Friday August 28th at Ireland ‘D’ starting at 7:00pm. With a very short best of three” series, both teams will be looking to jump out ahead in game one. Take a look at the schedule for any further details and changes as the series moves forward.

See you at the yard MudHens fans.

This past Friday evening the MudHens beat the X-Men 13-4. The game was one in which the Hens spotted the X-Men the first four runs. The Hens defense righted the ship and the offense took over led by Dan Pokoradi’s two hits and three RBI’s. Solid defense in the outfield by Pat Adams and Brenner Everts quickly extinguished any spark of a comeback. Kenny Collett, Robert Fisher, and Steve Pepi in order provided the pitching, with the last five innings shutting out the X-men.

Sunday evening, in 40 degree heat, the MudHens faced a game opponent in the Giants. Earlier in the season the MudHens dropped a 6-5 decision to the Giants. This game started off with the Hens spotting the Giants a two run lead in the top of the first. The Hens responded with a 6 run bottom and continued with the offense from there. Pat Adams and Mike Blaney each had multiple RBI’s as the Hens cruised past the Giants with 12-4. Solid pitching by Robert Fisher, Will Elliot, and Paul Thomson gave the Hens their 9th win on the season.

The Hens have two remaining games to make up due to rain, one against the Brewers and a finale against the Tigers as well as a final game against the Marauders. These games will be key positional games for final playoff seeding. Come out to the yard to see the BVB teams jockey for their slot in the standings.

Last night at Central Park the 5th place Junior MudHens took on the powerful 1st place Yankees in a one game elimination quarterfinal game.

The regular season match-up was split. In the first meeting, the Jr. MudHens won with a Greg GeBuza walk off single in the bottom of the 7th. The last meeting was a one sided game with the Yankees easily handling the Hens 16-2. The Hens had a bit of bad taste in their mouth coming into this game based on the last meeting with the Yanks. One fan coined this game as a “David vs. Goliath matchup” and I couldn’t agree more. The Yankees are large in size, well coached and fundamentally sound. However, the Jr’s came into this game mentally prepared and ready to take on the challenge.

Last night’s battle kept the fans on the edge of their seats and players on their toes from the first to last pitch. The Hens took an early 3 run lead in the top of 1st inning thanks to a key leadoff walk by Brett Sullivan and key hits by Zack Wyeld, Kyle MacPherson and Chris Dupuis. The Yanks answered back with 1 run in the bottom of the inning. Thanks to amazing pitching by Chris Dupuis and Adam Warren. Both held the Yanks to 1 run in 5 innings while leaving 6 runners in scoring position. The game was fulfilled with outstanding catching and defense by Brett Sullivan, key defensive plays by Kyle MacPherson and Greg GeBuza and a flurry of hits from Zack Wyled (2 important sacrifice hits), Kyle Macpherson (2-2, 2 Doubles, 2 RBIs 1 walk), Chris Dupuis (1-1, 1 double, 2 RBIs and 2 walks), Bradley Sullivan (2-3 with 1 double, 1 RBIs) and with the game winning hit Greg GeBuza (2-3 with 2 RBIs).

This wins moves the Junior MudHens onto the Semi Finals next Monday, August 10th @ Central North 6:15pm to face either the 3rd Place Giants or 7th Place Blue Jays.

Come on out to the ball park and support the Junior MudHens on their journey to a Bantam league championship.

GO HENS GO!

The season has hit its mid-way point and last years regular season champion MudHens have seemingly found their game. With the leagues hardest schedule, it was critical that the MudHens win against teams that they were ‘suppose’ to beat. That has become increasingly harder to do as many teams in the league has dramatically improved this year. The Hens have put together a three game winning streak against teams that are among the League’s elite. It started with a hard fought, cleanly pitched game against the Cardinals when the MudHens sent Rob Fisher, Will Elliot, and Steve Pepi to the mound to showcase their 150 years of combined baseball experience and shutdown a powerful Cardinals line-up winning 5 to 1.

The next game was against the always tough re-tooled Tigers. New uniforms, new players and a return to the play that they are known for has put the Tigers amongst the top of the league teams this season. The game was a breakout match for the Hens in the runs scored department as they pushed 10 runs across the plate. Solid pitching by Rob Fisher, Brennan Burnside and Brian Ferguson held the Tigers to 6 runs. Brenner Everts led the way with 5 RBI’s off of a two run double in the second inning and a three run home run in the 5th. Jason McKay added to the scoreboard with two hits and two runs scored.

Last night against the Hobos the Hens pitched a solid game and played clean defense as they took a 3-2 decision on a 7th inning game winning infield hit by Mike Blaney. This marks the second time this season that Mike Blaney has put up the GWRBI in his last at bat, the first time coming on June 9th against his former team, the Cubs, when Blaney went deep over the left centre fence to win the game 3-2; and again last night as he legged out a choppy ground ball to drive home the winning run. A belly slide into 1st base I might add. Again excellent pitching from Steve Pepi, Brennan Burnside and Will Elliot held the Hobos to just two runs scored. A solid defensive effort by the Hens from the outfield to the dish; where Jason McKay added to his Caught Stealing record against a hard running team. Mike Blaney put up three hits while Jason McKay added two more including the seventh inning hit that put the go ahead run on the board. Brian Ferguson added to this endgame by getting on base, going 2 for 2 with a walk for the night. Ken Collett advanced the eventual winning run to third and Blaney did the rest. This game was marked by great defense by both teams and was the third one run victory the Hens have had this season.

Things do not get any easier as the Hens face the Red Sox this Friday July 10th, 8:30pm at Nelson.

The MudHens hosted the Welland Legends at Nelson Park Tuesday night for the late slot. Getting prepared for game time, the squad was still trying to figure out what was contributing to the lacklustre playing over the first three regular season games but it was quickly discovered. The Hens hit the field with a “sandlot” boyish attitude to go play the game they are so infatuated with. The team played loose, kept attitudes positive and never stopped the squad banter on the field or in the dugout.