EXL: Blesk stunned Hluboká. Four hour game at Vysočina

There were eight games played on Saturday in Czech Extraliga. We could see dominant wins, but also narrow battles till the last pitch.

The series between Draci and Kotlářka moved to the capital. The teams split the win in the double header in the end. In the first game it was the away team that took the win, helped by Kotlářka errors. Adam Hajtmar and Přemek Chroust especially had a good game, each with three hits. Veteran Pavel Budský added a homerun to his statistics, increasing his lead in Homerun Club and now has 164 HR in his career. The away starter also had to deal with a nasty ball bounce, after which he was hit in the face. In the end, he was able to continue and threw 5 innings. Another milestone was achieved by Arnošt Dubový who reached 500th hit in his career. Thanks to all of this Draci won 14-3.

The second game was much closer. Tate Gillespie started for the home team and David Mergans stepped on the mound for Draci. Both pitchers threw well and they didn’t allow their opponent to gain a momentum. Draci took the lead in the second inning after Martin Červinka hit and Přemek Chroust run, but this was all they were able to do in the offense. Home team managed to get two runs in the fourth inning and snatch the lead. Gillespie and bullpen managed to hold Draci and Kotlářka could celebrate their fourth win on the season.

G 1	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Draci Brno	1	2	0	1	6	0	4				14	13	1
Kotlářka Praha	0	0	1	1	0	1	0				3	7	4

G 2	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Draci Brno	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		1	4	1
Kotlářka Praha	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	–		2	5	2

In Třebíč we could see a rather interesting game against Olympia Blansko. The game lasted 255 minutes and it certainly wasn’t boring. Both starting pitchers, David Farkaš and Justin Revels threw six innings. In the seventh inning home team put Matěj Brabec on the mound and Václav Tauš pitched for the away team. Unfortunately Tauš had to be substituted by Luis Rengel after two outs. At the time Rengel couldn’t know how much he would have to work.

The game got into extra innings with 4-4 score and there were 4 more innings to be played. Each inning looked similar. First Blansko scored a run, but Nuclears then leveled the score. Rengel show a heroic performance, despite throwing 106 pitches on Thursday, he was able to throw almost 100 more. Beside that he had 12 SO. But he couldn’t hold his temperament in check in 13th inning and after protesting against call for stalling between pitches, he was sent off. Home team took advantage and got the walkoff run after Richard Sázavsky hit.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13		R	H	E
Olympia Blansko	0	0	0	0	0	3	1	0	0	1	1	1	2		9	9	3
Třebíč Nuclears	0	0	0	2	0	0	2	0	0	1	1	1	3		10	11	3

The two Extraliga newcomers played a double header under the castle in Hluboká nad Vltavou. Hluboká entered the double header as a team that only lost one game on the field, while Jablonec only won one game. But north Bohemian players stunt home team in the first game, where they were leading 6-0 after three innings. Jablonec starter Jiří Hikl felt confident, giving trouble to even the most experienced batters. Home team wasn’t able to get a run in seven innings. Radek Burian substituted Hikl and he also didn’t allow Hluboká any runs. Jablonec could celebrate the unexpected 8-0 win. They are also the first team that didn’t allow Hluboká a run.

The second game was leveled for a long time with score at 1-1 after four innings. The home team managed to break the deadlock in the fifth inning after they scored 6 runs against James Smiley. This was also thanks to Martin Macháček who scored a grandslam. Blesk was able to get a few runs back after Hluboká bullpen got into the game, but Wesley Roemer halted them with three strikeouts in the nineth inning and the game finished 6-9 for the home team.

G1	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Blesk Jablonec	2	2	2	0	0	0	0	2	0		8	13	1
Sokol Hluboká	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0	4	3

G2	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Blesk Jablonec	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	5	0		6	9	5
Sokol Hluboká	0	0	1	0	6	0	2	0	–		9	13	3

Ostrava travelled to Prague to play against Tempo. And Arrows bats were on fire. The game was leveled at 1-1 after two innings, but away team exploaded offensively in the third. Everything started with home error after which Arrows scored 9 runs, three of which were after homeruns by Daniel Černý and Radim Novotný. Ostrava added 12 more runs in fifth and sixth inning and the game ended on mercy rule. Brett Holz also added his first homerun in Extraliga and Matěj Menšík got closer to Homerun Club with another HR. His next HR will be his 50th and he could become nineth member of this exclusive club.

While away team was blasting pitches left and right, home team was only able to get one hit. It came in the first inning from Marek Minařík who scored a HR. But this was the only thing Boris Bokaj allowed Tempo batters. Bokaj also threw all six innings. In the end Arrows won 22-1 which meant they also took the series. The final game between Arrows and Tempo will be played on Sunday.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Arrows Ostrava	1	0	9	0	5	7					22	15	0
Tempo Praha	1	0	0	0	0	0					1	1	6

Eagles were able to beat Hroši 10-0 on Friday, but that didn’t mean the double header in Brno would be easy. In the first game Eagles took the 1-0 lead in the first inning, but Hroši scored eight runs in third and fourth inning in response. Eagles answered quickly, adding 7 runs in next two innings and the score was leveled. Matěj Hejma got his team the win with a HR in eight inning as the home team was not able to respond with runs.

Hroši had to win to keep up with Eagles at the top of Extraliga standings. In the game, which started at 5 PM, there was a real danger of an early end due to the bad lighting conditions. Fans had to wait till fourth inning to see first runs scored, when Hroši scored four and took the lead. Eagles substitued pitching and put Albert Pražák on the mound – one of the biggest surprises of current Extraliga season. He was able to halt home batters and only allowed two hits. For a long time Eagles couldn’t find a way to get a hit against Martin Grundmann, who played for Eagles in the previous season. Away team had to wait till eight inning to get a run, when Hroši sent Kellen Croce on the mound. Eagles got two runs after hits by Andy Cosgrov and Matěj Hejma. It wasn’t enough to get the win, however, and Hroši got the second game for themselves.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Eagles Praha	1	0	0	0	5	2	0	1	0		9	14	1
Cardion Hroši Brno	0	0	3	5	0	0	0	0	0		8	12	1

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Eagles Praha	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0		2	9	0
Cardion Hroši Brno	0	0	0	4	0	0	0	0	–		4	8	0

Extraliga standings (1.5.2021)

	W	L	%	GB	BA	ERA	FA	Score
Arrows Ostrava	6	2	.750	–	.3285	4.71	.941	83:42
Eagles Praha	8	4	.667	–	.2789	4.76	.951	82:60
Cardion Hroši Brno	8	4	.667	–	.2716	4.38	.958	77:63
Draci Brno	6	3	.667	0.5	.2705	1.42	.974	48:18
Sokol Hluboká	7	4	.636	0.5	.2438	1.73	.956	42:48
Třebíč Nuclears	7	5	.583	1	.2702	4.66	.951	91:71
Kotlářka Praha	4	8	.333	4	.2123	5.07	.936	40:79
Olympia Blansko	1	5	.167	4	.2136	4.47	.91	32:49
Tempo Praha	3	8	.273	4.5	.2116	4.04	.936	42:60
Blesk Jablonec	2	9	.182	5.5	.2023	7.8	.94	42:89