sEXL: Slovak Extraliga wrapped up first two play weeks

Slovak top flight baseball started on 4th of April with a game between Jelka and Trnava. There were five more games played over the previous weekend, too.

Angels Trnava ‚B‘ – Maceitos Jelka 15-0 (5 inn.)

The Opening game of Slovak Extraliga was provided by Trnava and Jelka. The game was, in the end, dominated by the home team that grabbed the win after five innings. Their starting pitcher Samuel Holekši only allowed two hits to Jelka and striked out 7 batters. Offensively, Samuel Chrvala had an interesting game, where he had 4 hits from 5 AB. Michal Puškár didn’t miss any of his chances, finishing 3-for3 with 1 walk.

Apollo Bratislava – Angels Trnava 20-4 (5 inn.)

The first game of the second play week offered an old rivalry when historically two most accomplished Slovak teams faced each other. And the game started in an interesting manner, after Trnava took 2-0 lead in the first inning after Tomáš Biskorovajny’s homerun. Their starter Marek Červený didn’t allow anything to the opponents in the bottom half of the inning as he striked out 2 batters. However, home team pounced in the second inning, and thanks to the double from Tomáš Borároš they tied the game. The third inning spelled the disaster for the visitors, when Apollo scored 8 runs and built up a nice lead. Visitors weren’t able to hold the tide despite the pitching substitution and so the game ended prematurely. This surely didn’t make home Michal Ešmír happy, as he only missed a homerun to Cycle.

Apollo Bratislava ‚B‘ – Fooze Spider Bratislava 15-5 (8 inn.)

The small city derby also didn’t see the full nine innings being played, despite the game being close till the bottom of the sixth inning, as the home team had trouble to hit against Tomáš Juríčk on Spiders‘ mound. However, then came several defensive errors from the visitors and the home team couldn’t be stopped. Matej Škerlec had an exceptional day, where he earned 5 hits, three of which were extra base hits. He himself was responsible for the third of Apollo B hits.

Angels Trnava ‚B‘ – Crows Košice 14-15

We had to wait till the fourth game to see the full game being played. And there were plenty of excitement with the better finish for the Eastern Slovaks. Košice was 0-6 behind after five innings. Angels were helped by a good pitching from their starter Samuel Holekši. However, after his substitution the visitors‘ bats came to life. Furthermore home team accumulated errors and Crows managed to score 15 runs in 4 innings. They were hence 15-8 ahead of their opponents before the bottom of the ninth inning. Trnava then pressed and came close to the win, in the end finishing just a run short. Fortunately for Košice, Michal Podracký threw a strikeout in the right moment and he gave his team a valuable win.

Maceitos Jelka – Outmen Skalica 5-11

Skalica got to play their first game of the season on Sunday when they faced Jelka. The game saw 16 runs being scored, even though most of them were from the visitors. Martin Roman, playing for Skalica, threw 5.1 innings, allowing 4 hits, while adding 3 hits with his bat. Jelka had Oskar Novák on the mound, who threw a complete game, with 162 pitches in total. He striked out 14 batters, but unfortunately his defense made 9 errors, which made it difficult to get the win.

Crows Košice – Apollo Bratislava 0-15 (6 inn.)

Košice wasn’t able to keep their performance going after winnings against Trnava. Current Extraliga champion was a tough opponent to them, as they only had one hit. The pitching duo Martin Gieci and Jaroslav Kosna wouldn’t allow them more. On the other hand, home batters collected hit after hit and thanks walks and defensive errors they were able to grab a decisive lead. Matej Rudohradský was among the top players with 4 hits from 4 AB, he also added a walk. Apollo is thus the only undefeated team after two weeks.

#	Team	W	L	T	PCT	GB
1	APL Apollo Bratislava	2	0	0	1.000	0
2	APB Apollo Bratislava B	1	0	0	1.000	0.5
2	OUT Outmen Skalica	1	0	0	1.000	0.5
4	CRO Crows Košice	1	1	0	.500	1
4	WAB Angels Trnava U23	1	1	0	.500	1
6	FOO Fooze Bratislava	0	1	0	.000	1.5
6	WAT Angels Trnava	0	1	0	.000	1.5
8	JEL Maceitos Jelka	0	2	0	.000	2