Jan Novák created new Extraliga record
The great performance of Hluboká pitcher Jan Novák wasn’t enough to get his team a win against Draci on Friday. However, the away pitcher made his mark in the historical records of Czech Extraliga.
Czech international playing for Sokolu Hluboká nad Vltavou threw 11 strikeouts against Draci. Additionally, in his first two starts in the season, he threw 12 strikeouts in each game. Based on our records, he is the first pitcher in Extraliga, who was able to throw double digit strikeouts in the first three starts of the season.
Jon Robles (Arrows) was close to achieving the same feat, when he entered the season with 9, 10, and 9 strikeouts in 2008. Even closer was Peter Gehle from Technika Brno, who threw 13 strikeouts in his first start and 11 in the third start in 2017. Unfortunately, he „only“ threw 9 strikeouts in his second start. The game, however, was only played for five innings and was promptly finished due to the mercy rule. When it comes to the active players, Jeffrey Barto and John Hussey were the closest. Barto was only missing one strikeout in his second start against Skokani Olomouc. A year later, Hussey threw 14 strikeouts against Technika Brno, then 16 strikeouts against Skokani Olomouc. In his third start he only threw two innings and so he lost his chance to get another game with more than 10 SO.
* in the article we use statistics available at ČBA and baseball-stat.cz. Statistics from 2007 are unfortunately unavailable. If you know about another player who started the season with three consecutive double digit strikeouts, let us know!
