EXL: Jablonec home premier ended in loss

All ten Extraliga teams played on Sunday, but only one of the home teams won.

In the third game of the series, Draci needed to win against Tempo, as they were sixth in the league standings. The game wouldn’t be easy for them, however, as the home team started Jake Rabinowitz. Draci decided to go with young David Mergans. And it was the away pitcher, who came atop of the pitching duel, when he only allowed one run in six innings. Not to be outshone, Milan Prokop, another youngster in Draci lineup, had two homeruns and contributed to three Draci runs. In the end, Draci took 5-2 win and stopped their loosing streak.

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

Prague derby between Kotlářka and Eagles was going better for Eagles. But Kotlářka pressed offensively in the first inning on Sunday and started the game with 4-0 lead. They also had Tate Gillespie on the mound, who is improving match to match and who held Eagles offense. In five innings, he only allowed one run. Away team continued their offense, increasing the lead to 10-1 in the sixth inning and it seemed they were well on the way to get the first win in the series. However, Eagles wouldn’t give up and they started to rack up runs once Kotlářka bullpen came in play. In the bottom of the eight inning, they scored five runs and came only three runs from levelling the score. Kotlářka sent Štěpán Dupal on the mound, who was able, thanks to four strikeouts, to keep the score unchanged.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Kotlářka Praha	4	0	1	1	0	4	0	0	0		10	7	1
Eagles Praha	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	5	0		7	12	1

The conditions in Jablonec were finally sufficient for them to play at home. In the first inning, they were able to score historically first Extraliga run in Jablonec, after Jan Výbora got home on Radek Šulc hit. But visitors got on a roll after that. It was mainly Michael Vykoukal, with 2 homeruns and 5 RBI, who did the most damage. Additionally, young Filip Votava threw 7 innings, only allowing three hits to the home team. Jablonec didn’t win in the first ever Extraliga game on the home field, and after loosing 0-3 in the series, their hopes of getting into TOP 6 are diminishing.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Arrows Ostrava	0	0	1	1	3	0	1	0	4		10	15	1
Blesk Jablonec	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0		2	5	1

Hluboká beat Blansko two times and they could get the series sweep at home on Sunday. And the home team started well, with five runs in three innings. Their starter James Boyce kept away batters at bay, when they were only able to get one run in five innings. Hluboká then added seven runs in the second half and game ended after eight innings on mercy rule.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Olympia Blansko	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	0			2	6	2
Sokol Hluboká	1	2	2	0	0	3	2	2			12	16	2

Hroši and Třebíč split two games in the series. The winner was to be decided in the last game that was played in Brno. Both teams entered the game aggressively, each scoring three runs in the first inning. While visitors managed to continue the trend, Hroši stayed scoreless for a while. Away starter Justin Revels improved in the following innings and he held home batters. In the end, he was able to throw seven innings, only allowing Hroši four runs. In the eight inning, visitors increased their lead to 12-4 and they sent Matěj Brabec on the mound. He allowed a small drama in the ninth inning, when home team scored two runs but it wasn’t enough to level the score. Třebíč won 12-6 and currently holds the same 9-6 record as their opponent.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Třebíč Nuclears	3	3	0	0	2	0	0	4	0		12	19	3
Cardion Hroši Brno	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	2		6	9	1

EXL Standings (9.5.2021)

	W	L	%	GB	BA	ERA	FA	Score
Arrows Ostrava	10	3	.769	–	.3567	3.92	.954	139:52
Sokol Hluboká	10	4	.714	0.5	.2383	1.62	.953	63:55
Eagles Praha	10	5	.667	1	.2715	4.76	.954	103:77
Třebíč Nuclears	9	6	.600	2	.2878	4.59	.95	119:84
Cardion Hroši Brno	9	6	.600	2	.2703	5.41	.96	90:91
Draci Brno	7	5	.583	2.5	.2613	1.68	.964	56:29
Tempo Praha	6	9	.400	5	.2191	3.6	.939	59:72
Kotlářka Praha	5	10	.333	6	.2186	5.31	.936	57:100
Olympia Blansko	1	9	.100	7.5	.1828	5.4	.927	39:81
Blesk Jablonec	2	12	.143	8.5	.2	9.49	.939	46:130