EXL: Ostrava ensured TOP 6. Blansko will fight for Extraliga spot

24.5.2021 Zuzana Ferková 5 min read

The last play day of Week 7 wasn’t short on interesting moments, comebacks and controversy.

Sunday started with the third game between Eagles and Blansko. Looking at the starting pitchers, the game promised interesting duel on the mound. And we soon discovered this to be true. In seven innings there were only two runs scored, both by Blansko players, who kept the lead in Prague for a long time. Tomáš Duffek remained on the mound till the eight inning. His substitute Albert Pražák wasn’t able to stop Blansko either, and so the visitors managed to increase their lead to 5-0.

But baseball is played till the last out and this saying was confirmed when Eagles managed to score two runs in the eight inning against Luis Rengel. Blansko sent Václav Tauš on the mound to finish the job in the ninth inning. Unfortunately, young pitcher didn’t have a good outing and after 4 BB he had to be substituted. Jaroslav Němec, who stepped in his place, wasn’t able to play an out either. Home team was able to win after a walk-off hit by Andrew Cosgrove as they came back from 0-5 deficit. Blansko thus became the first team this season, who is out of TOP 6.

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

If you don’t know what to do with your money this year, you can bet at the result of Kotlářka Praha series. Out of 7 series, all of them ended with Prague team loosing 1-2. The same went for the series against Jablonec, where Kotlářka lost first two games. In the third one, they started well taking the 3-0 lead in the first inning. Furthermore, they started experience Lukáš Ercoli, who pitched till eight inning and who only allowed one run. Additionally, he also threw double digit strikeouts (13) for the first time in his career. Kotlářka combined good pitching and batting to take 4-2 win.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Blesk Jablonec	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	5	0
Kotlářka Praha	3	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	–	4	10	1

We could see a very important game, with TOP 6 repercussions, in Prague, where Tempo played Nuclears Třebíč. Home team, perhaps unexpectedly, played Martin Zelenka, who recently returned from USA. Třebíč still couldn’t rely on Joey Wagaman and so young Nicolas O’Rourke started again. And once more, he had a good outing, when he only allowed two runs.

Třebíč relied on a young pitcher as well, when they started Lukáš Pacal. He was, however, only able to keep the home runners from scoring for two innings. In the third Tempo scored three runs. They continued in a similar manner after scoring four more in the fifth inning and it seemed, Tempo could get a comfortable win. However, Třebíč awoken at the end of the duel and they leveled the game in the ninth inning. An interesting game went to extra innings. At first, Nuclears scored 3 runs, but their offense was stopped after a decision that will be discussed for a while. Referees took the run from the visitors and called an out after leaving the base early. Furthermore, Třebíč manager was also sent off.

Despite that, visitors had a three run cushion going to the bottom of tenth inning, but even that wasn’t enough. Home team took advantage of 3 BB by Dominik Doležal and in the end, they were able to score four runs. Thanks to this, they kept a fighting chance for TOP 6. Furthermore, Tempo has a slightly easier schedule, when compared to Třebíč, as they will be playing two teams from the bottom of the Extraliga standings.

	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	R	H	E
Třebíč Nuclears	0	0	0	0	2	3	3	1	3	12	17	3
Tempo Praha	0	3	0	4	1	1	0	0	4	13	10	0

The game between Hroši and Hluboká was also important in terms of TOP 6. Brno team needed to win to keep the fifth position. Knowing this, they entered the game quickly, scoring 4 runs on James Boyce. However, Hluboká didn’t give up and in the following innings, they were able to slowly chip off the home lead. In the top of the sixth, they were even able to go ahead. Hroši wouldn’t let themselves be detoured by the comeback and in they end they scored five more runs. There were four Hroši players who had three hits. Kellen Croce also had two triples as Hroši won 12-8.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Sokol Hluboká	0	2	2	0	3	1	0	0	0	8	11	4
Cardion Hroši Brno	4	1	0	2	0	1	1	3	–	12	16	4

There was a double header played at MBS in Brno. The first game was a substitution of the game postponed in Ostrava. The fans still remembered how Arrows came back from 0-7 deficit and they were able to see the same, when Ostrava won 5-3 after loosing 0-3. Draci lost after an error in the eight inning. Thanks to the win Ostrava is sure to play in TOP 6 this year.

Second game was even more interesting, as the lead changed the sides regularly. The winner had to be decided in the extra innings. Draci were first able to get two nice defensive plays and then, thanks to Arnošt Dubový‚s fourth hit of the game, home team took the win. The reigning champion took one game in the series against Arrows.