EXL: Only three teams without a loss after the first week
Last five games of Extraliga week 1 were played on Sunday, and there were plenty of interesting moments and results to be seen.
Let’s start with a duel that took place in southern Bohemia where Hluboká hosted Eagles Praha. After two wins in Prague, home team had a chance for a sweep. Eagles started with eighteen year old Jan Konrád on the mound, while Sokol Hluboká used experienced David Štastný. Home team managed to find Eagles pitcher’s weakness in the first inning and score two run. On the other hand, Eagles were only able to get 5 H in five innings against Štastný. Eagles lineup (again without Matěj Hejma) was not able to fare better against home bullpen, and in the end Hluboká earned it’s thrid win. Sokol saw a fantastic return to Extraliga as it now stands in the shared first place in the league standings.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | ||
| Eagles Praha | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 3 | |
| Sokol Hluboká | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 0 |
Third game between Draci and Blesk was played at MBS in Brno. This time, it was Blesk Jablonec who were the home team, as their pitch was still not ready for competitive baseball after recent snowstorms. Both teams started their newly acquired pitchers. Draci played Marcus Jensen and “home” Blesk started James Smiley, who already played on Friday as a reliever. This was possibly the reason why he only pitched 4 innings, even if he didn’t allow a run.
We had to wait till fifth inning to see the score change, when Adam Brenner subbed Smiley. Blesk managed to level the score in the seventh inning, but Draci pushed in the final innings and took 7-1 win. Jensen threw 7 innings with 8 SO. Arnošt Dubový added one more hit, with 8 H during the Opening Weekend, he only missed by one hit when compared to the historic record.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | ||
| Draci Brno | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 12 | 1 | |
| Blesk Jablonec | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 3 |
Prague derby between Kotlářka and Tempo moved from Vypich to Praha 12, where Tempo home ground is. Home team hoped to earn third win in a row. Their hoped lied on Jake Rabinowitz who was ready to start the game on the mound. Kotlářka responded with František Novák, who showed he could fill the shoes of Ján Novák after he left to Hluboká. Kotlářka’s pitcher showed an excellent performance, when he only allowed two hits in four innings. Jiří Vavruša then stepped in his place and followed the suit allowing only two hits in five innings and leading his team to the victory.
Kotlářka was able to find Rabinowitz’s weakness right at the beginning. American pitcher played on Saturday so he wasn’t as fresh as his opponent and that could play a role. His defense also didn’t help after it created 3 E which allowed 4 R.
In the nineth inning we witnessed a historical moment after Daniel Vavruša hit a two run homerun and entered the Czech Homerun Club, when he earned his 50th career homerun.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | ||
| Kotlářka Praha | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 4 | |
| Tempo Praha | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 3 |
Hroši Brno played at home for the first time this season. After two wins in Blansko they too wanted to prolong their streak. And their intetions were clear after they scored 9 R in three innings against Venezuelan pitcher Rengel. It’s fair to say that a lot of the runs were not his fault, as he only had two earned runs.
But baseball is played in nine innings and second half of the game saw a surge in Blansko offense, who slowly started to close in on their opponent. They were aided by a sixth inning grand slam by Ladislav Kabeš who became man of the match and only missed a double to complete the Cycle.
Despite the final push, Olympia wasn’t able to grab the win and lost the third game in a row. If Blansko wants to get into TOP 6, they will need to improve their defense, especially as they now have 14 E.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | ||
| Olympia Blansko | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 8 | 3 | |
| Cardion Hroši Brno | 2 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | – | 13 | 12 | 1 |
Arrows Ostrava came to Třebíč as the only team in the league that didn’t bring foreign players yet. This meant a narrower roster as could be seen when Arrows started sixteen years old Filip Votava. He faced an experienced American Justin Revels, who played in MiLB. Home pitcher was able to make use of his experience after he only allowed 3 H in six innings against a strong Arrows lineup.
It was the home team who scored first, after a run in the second inning. Duo AJ Cipolla and Richard Sázavský continued in their good performance. Ryan Johnson subbed Revels and finished pitching for Třebíč, he didn’t allow Arrows a single run, which saw Nuclears grab an important win against Arrows.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | ||
| Arrows Ostrava | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | |
| Třebíč Nuclears | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | – | 4 | 10 | 1 |
Extraliga Standings
| W | L | % | GB | BA | ERA | FA | SCORE | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Draci Brno | 3 | 0 | 1.000 | – | .3333 | 0.72 | .981 | 22:3 |
| Cardion Hroši Brno | 3 | 0 | 1.000 | – | .3153 | 3.24 | .949 | 30:14 |
| Sokol Hluboká | 3 | 0 | 1.000 | – | .2447 | 0.67 | .949 | 13:3 |
| Tempo Praha | 2 | 1 | .667 | 1 | .1856 | 1.08 | .955 | 20:8 |
| Arrows Ostrava | 2 | 1 | .667 | 1 | .32 | 7.27 | .945 | 29:26 |
| Třebíč Nuclears | 1 | 2 | .333 | 2 | .3158 | 9.12 | .973 | 26:29 |
| Kotlářka Praha | 1 | 2 | .333 | 2 | .1765 | 5.76 | .924 | 8:20 |
| Eagles Praha | 0 | 3 | .000 | 3 | .2143 | 3.81 | .935 | 3:13 |
| Olympia Blansko | 0 | 3 | .000 | 3 | .2268 | 6.38 | .872 | 14:30 |
| Blesk Jablonec | 0 | 3 | .000 | 3 | .2024 | 7.43 | .923 | 3:22 |
