• The Maryland Bridegrooms opened their 2059 season with an enormous amount of off-season activity for a usually conservative franchise and also with a degree of enthusiasm from the fanbase that hasn't been present in recent decades. But then, in typical Maryland fashion, the good guys were shut out for two straight games to start the year and compounded the losses with their major power bat acquisition LF Jim Szczepanski on the injured list with a fractured foot after being beaned in Spring Training.


• The Bridegrooms didn't score a run for 20 innings to open the season, and managed just 7 combined hits in the first two games in two losses to the Pennsylvania Railroaders.


• Maryland exploded for four runs on six hits in the third game of the series to avoid the sweep. 2B Haechan Mae and RF Brad Reid both had two hits to support 7 strong innings from 30-year old Greg Wilkinson.

Series #2 (3 games vs. Ohio Knights)

• Maryland won their home opener 8-3 on April 8th behind four hits each from DH Lou Good and 1B Rob Quibell. 2B Haechan Mae added a double and triple while going 2-for-4 in the 15-hit Bridegrooms attack. Rookie CF Brett Henrich also went 2-for-4 with a triple of his own and added 2 RBI.


• The Bridegrooms wasted 8 shutout innings, 10 strikeouts, and zero walks from SP Tim Gibson when the Knights touched up CL Ruud Bik in the top of the 9th inning for 3 runs on 4 hits and a walk. LF Cesar Collazo went 2-for-4, accounting for 2 of Maryland's 4 hits for the game. Maryland loses 3-0, shut out for the third time in the first week of the season.


• SP Josh Rosen underwhelmed again in his second start in a Maryland jersey, allowing 4 earned runs including a home run on 5 hits and 1 walk in 5.1 IP in a 4-1 loss. This was a tough loss in a game where Maryland outhit Ohio but just couldn't get the clutch hits against SP John Cupit. 2B Haechan Mae led the Bridegrooms offense again with another multi-hit performance, going 3-for-4 with a double and a run scored.

Series #3 (3 games at California Bulldogs)

• It took Maryland 11 innings but a LF Cesar Collazo home run in the top of the 11th finally broke the deadlock and lifted the Bridegrooms to a 2-0 win. CL Ruud Bik (1-1) had a nice bounceback performance with two shutout innings and picked up the victory in relief. C Antonio Alomar, an off-season acquisition from Alabama, went 2-for-4.


• LF Cesar Collazo continued his hot start to the season by going 3-for-4 with a walk, two doubles and two RBI. Rookie CF Brett Henrich went 2-for-5 with two doubles of his own, three runs scored and a stolen base. SP Greg Wilkinson (2-0) didn’t have his best stuff, giving up 3 runs on 7 hits and 2 walks in 6.1 IP but it was enough for the win. Final score Maryland 7, California 4.


• The Bridegrooms completed the three-game sweep with a 5-4 win behind a 2-for-3, three RBI performance from DH Lou Good. CF Bret Henrich had another multi-hit game, going 2-for-4 and 2B Haechan Mae added two hits, a stolen base and a run scored.

Series #4 (3 games at North Carolina Aviators)

• Maryland could only manage 5 hits in a 2-0 complete game shutout loss to North Carolina’s Hyotaru Takahashi. Maryland SP Tim Gibson (0-2) again had a 10 strikeout performance spoiled by a lack of offense.


• The second game was a wild affair, with a combined 44 hits, 25 runs and 4 errors! In the end the Aviators would get to Ruud Bik (1-2) in the bottom of the 10th inning for the walkoff 13-12 win. 3B Pat Ritchie went 5-for-6 with 2 RBI and 3 runs scored and seven different Bridegrooms players had at least two hits. A really bad outing for SP Josh Rosen who couldn’t get out of the second inning and allowed 6 runs on 7 hits and a walk.


• After that offensive display, Maryland were shut out yet again in a 1-0 loss behind a complete game from North Carolina’s Ray Jones. This was alarmingly the 5th time this season that the Bridegrooms haven’t managed a single run. SP Ricky Garcia pitched in and out of trouble for 7 innings, allowing just the one run on 6 hits and 4 walks.

Series #5 (3 games vs. New Jersey Athletics)

• SP Greg Wilkinson improved to 3-0 on the season with 7 strong innings (4 hits, 2 walks, 8 strikeouts) in a 4-1 victory over NJ. CF Bret Henrich had two more hits and a run scored and DH Rob Quibell crushed a 414-foot home run to left-centerfield while going 2-for-3. Ruud Bik pitched a clean 9th inning with 2 strikeouts for his 3rd save of the year.


• In the second game of the series Maryland got to 23-year old NJ SP Glen Duncan early and cruised the rest of the way to a 5-2 victory. Bridegrooms SP Joe Dalton also moved to 3-0 on the year. He allowed only three hits in 6.1 innings but two of them were home runs. C Antonio Alomar went 2-for-3 with his first career home run in a Bridegrooms jersey.


• NJ avoided the sweep by knocking SP Tim Gibson to 0-3 on the year with a 5-2 victory of their own in the finale. The Athletics’ LF Joe Swanson went 4-four-4 with a walk as Maryland had no answer for him. Rookie CF Bret Henrich put in another 2-for-4 performance in the loss.

April 22-24 Series #6 (3 games at Texas Spurs)

• The Bridegrooms opened the series in Texas with a tough 3-2 loss in 13 innings. 2B Haechan Mae continued his great start to the season with a 3-for-5 performance with two walks. 1B Rob Quibell also had three hits including a triple, and rookie CF Bret Henrich hit his third triple of the season. SP Jose Rosen wasn’t as bad as his first few starts, allowing 2 runs on 5 hits including in 4.2 innings pitched but he did allow two more solo home runs. CL Ruud Bik threw three shutout innings in relief before the usually reliable RP Luis Zarate (0-1) imploded in the 13th inning with two walks and two hits allowed for the loss.


• Sloppy play from Maryland in the second game of the series led to a 5-3 loss that wasn’t really as close as the scoreline indicates. SP Greg Wilkinson (3-1) gave up 5 runs in 4.2 innings but only 2 were earned after two big errors from the Bridegrooms defense. CF Bret Henrich went 2-for-4 with his fourth double of the season, an RBI and run scored. Things got a little testy between the two clubs late in the game after C Antonio Alomar was hit by a pitch in the top of the 3rd inning, and Maryland responded by hitting LF Greg Kloiber in the bottom of the 6th.


• Maryland took the final game of the series with a wild 3-1 win in 10 innings. Not much happened until the 10th when a SS Mike Daniels triple scored two runs against Spurs closer Terry Tillson. CL Ruud Bik picked up his 5th save of the season, but not before loading the bases on two hits and a walk in the bottom of the 10th and he managed to get out of it by striking out 3B Joe Lacy.

April 25-27 Series #7 (3 games at New York Twin Towers)

• It was a late-night flight back to the east coast from Texas for the Bridegrooms to arrive in New York, but the team didn’t come out flat, they outhit New York 14-10, and still came away as 8-3 losers. 6 different Maryland players had a multi-hit game in the frustrating loss.


• Maryland had their second extra-innings game in three days and saw more craziness as Bridegrooms RP Leo Ward and CL Ruud Bik blew a 6-2 lead in the 9th inning forcing extras. But in the top of the 10th inning LF Cesar Collazo hit an RBI double for the eventual 7-6 win. It was Collazo’s second extra-inning game-winning hit already this season.


• Coming off such a feel-good win the previous day, it was a disappointingly lifeless series finale as New York walked over the Bridegrooms 7-1. CF Bret Henrich was 2-for-4 and RF Brad Reid also went 2-for-4 and accounted for the only Maryland run with a solo homer in the top of the 9th inning.

These are amazing!

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Rookie CF Brett Henrich leads all AFBL rookies in batting average (.319), WAR (1.6), hits (67), runs (26), and triples (5).