EXL: Five teams certain to play in TOP 6

After Sunday games there are five teams certain to play in TOP 6. The last spot will be decided next week and it will be taken by either Tempo or Třebíč.

Hroši needed to win against Jablonec on Sunday but they also needed Třebíč to lose against Hluboká. In the end this is exactly what happened, even though the win didn’t come easy for Brno team. The Extraliga newcomer was ahead for a long time and it seemed they would take another win. Especially Michal Kubina was on a roll with 3 homeruns. However, Hroši stepped up in the last innings where they were able to score 10 runs and grab the win.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Cardion Hroši Brno	0	2	0	0	1	0	6	1	3		13	15	1
Blesk Jablonec	3	0	2	2	0	2	0	2	0		11	11	2

Sokol Hluboká, certain to play in TOP 6, traveled to Třebíč. Home team still has hopes of breaking through to TOP 6, however, they find it difficult to get the necessary wins lately. And they were unable to do so at the home pitch either. The duel between two foreign starters went better for James Boyce, who only allowed one run. Home team starter Justin Revels, similar to his opponent, only allowed 4 hits, unfortunately for him, Martin Mužík‘s hit was a two run homerun. Hluboká is currently second in the Extraliga table and they still can finish first in the regular season.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Sokol Hluboká	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0		2	5	3
Třebíč Nuclears	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0		1	4	4

Tempo Praha could jump ahead of their opponents to improve their chances for TOP 6. For that they needed two wins against Blansko. However, visitors, who had tough time at bat recently, found their lost form in the fourth inning and with five runs they were able to build a lead. Furthermore, reliable Štěpán Havlíček pitched for them and was able to remain on the mound for eight innings, only allowing four runs. Draci player, currently on loan in Blansko, Jan Nebenführ then closed the game. After the loss, Tempo is still one win ahead of Třebíč. Thanks to the better score, they only need to win one of three games against Jablonec next week.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Olympia Blansko	0	1	0	5	0	0	1	0	0		7	10	1
Tempo Praha	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	2	0		4	10	1

It is unbelievable how all of Kotlářka Praha series end in the same way this season. The eight week ended this way as well after Tempo won the first game in the series against Arrows on Sunday. Kotlářka lost two games in northern Moravia and so they last chance to avoid the sweep was at home. Furthermore, this was also the first game at home, where fans were present. And the home team didn’t want to disappoint them. First, Kotlářka scored in the fifth inning after duo Truesdale and Riegger contributed with 3 RBI. However, Arrows were able to level to score in the last inning against Jiří Vavruša, who substituted Lukáš Ercoli. Scott Mulhearn wasn’t willing to let his team lose and he was able to get a walk-off homerun off Matěj Satoria.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Arrows Ostrava	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2		3	10	1
Kotlářka Praha	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	1		4	4	1

If you came to Eagles Park late on Sunday you had to be surprised. Draci Brno pressed #1 home starter Tomáš Duffek and were able to score eight runs in first two innings. On the other side, Filip Čapka had a good day and he only allowed home batter four hits. Thanks to this Draci won 11-0 and won the series 2-1.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Draci Brno	7	1	0	0	0	0	1	2			11	13	0
Eagles Praha	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0			0	4	2

Extraliga standings 30.5.

	W	L	%	GB	BA	ERA	FA	Score
Arrows Ostrava	18	6	.750	–	.342	4.05	.959	244:101
Sokol Hluboká	16	7	.696	1.5	.239	2.33	.95	111:93
Draci Brno	14	8	.636	3	.275	2.51	.971	121:67
Eagles Praha	15	9	.625	3	.256	5	.959	141:128
Cardion Hroši Brno	14	10	.583	4	.284	5.66	.949	162:159
Tempo Praha	11	13	.458	7	.238	3.99	.946	115:119
Třebíč Nuclears	10	14	.417	8	.275	4.61	.944	156:134
Kotlářka Praha	8	16	.333	10	.218	5.58	.935	85:169
Blesk Jablonec	7	15	.318	10	.237	7.61	.943	110:182
Olympia Blansko	3	18	.143	13.5	.182	5.92	.932	68:161