Essex Archers recovered from their two opening defeats against London Muskateers by recording two wins over Forest Glade Redbacks in Single A last week.

Archers came out 14-9 winners in the first game of the day before matching their scoring tally again in the second, winning 14-6.

Andy Gardner, Simon Goodwin and Joey Wednesday all returned to the side after missing the opening games of the season, while Paul Tuson made his debut for the club in game one against Redbacks.

Goodwin struck out at his first bat in game one, however with a hit and a walk he had done his job well, as he did in the field when he took a great running catch.

Geoff Thomas batted consistently, going for six or eight with one walk across the two games while hitting several singles, a double and was solid in the field.

Dave Evans went six for eight with a strike out and, on two occasions, was subject to the new five-run limit rule which twice came in to play with bases loaded and four runs in.

Having worked on his pitching in the off-season, Evans pitched for game two and came away with the win, pitching a complete game and limiting the Redbacks to six runs.

Gardner caught brilliantly in both games and did the job with the bat too, getting on base with four hits in game one and two hits in game two, while Brett Cuming made a couple of hits and a stolen base in game one and had a couple of walks in game two.

Dave Nagler was twice the victim of some excellent fielding from the Redbacks infield but kept going and still got a run, RBI and stolen bases in both games. He then made several good catches in both games, twice making diving stops to his left.

Joey Wednesday was left disappointed with a missed catch at the start of game one but made up for it throughout the rest of the two games by taking several catches, while he went four for seven while batting and stole four bases across the two games.

In game one, Tuson played right field and got a walk and came in for a run and Jamie Steed pitched brilliantly in game one with minimal walks and 4K’s.

Rachael Skaarbrevik took over at right field for game two but saw little of the ball while going zero for two with two walks and coming in for a run and, finally, Tomi Keeling played game two in left field and brought hit bat to play, going two for two with two walks and four RBIs while taking a brilliant running catch to end the game.