Newton Aycliffe Spartans Baseball team are finally Kings of the British Baseball Federation’s AA Northern Division and they clinched the title without facing a pitch.
Oldham North Stars, the only team to have won a game against the Spartans this season, were unable to raise a team to travel to County Durham and therefore the Spartans were awarded the two games.
It means the Spartans, formed in 2011, proudly boasting a dominant record of 15 wins and 1 loss in 2014, can’t be caught with only a couple of weeks of the regular season remaining.  Spartans are now top seeds for the end of season playoffs, which commence with a home game on Sunday 31st August concluding at the National Baseball Centre in Farnham Park near Slough a week later.
“It’s a great feeling,”, first year Head Coach and General Manager, Mike Holton said “ We’ve worked hard for the past three years to build a sustainable club that can compete and we have been improving in each of our previous two seasons.  But this year we worked hard all off season and to have a record like we do is fantastic”
Spartans have two final regular season games, this weekend at Manchester A’s who should also join the Spartans in the playoffs but will be keen to avoid being seeded against the Spartans.
But according to Mike Holton the job isn’t finished yet “We still have the playoffs and still need to win a one off game on 31st August.  We will take each game as it comes and If we can do that we can give ourselves a great shot to go to the National Baseball Championship weekend next month to represent Newton Aycliffe and Baseball in the North East”
More information on the Spartans can be found at www.newtonaycliffespartans.co.uk