EXL: Třebíč certain to play in TOP 6. Walk-off win for Eagles

Three games were played on Friday and all three of them offered close games that came down to a wire.

Arrows Ostrava – Technika Brno 2-0

The game between the last two teams in Extraliga was played at Arrows Park. And it offered a nice pitching duel. Marko Vykoukal started on the mound for the first time since 30th of July and he was doing quiet well, without allowing any runs in seven innings pitched. Visitors relied on Matěj Brabec, who also had a solid game, striking out 9 batters in seven innings. Unfortunately, he also allowed 2 run. The first one came in the fifth inning, when Martin Kubovčík reached the home base after a wild pitch. In the end it turned out to be the winning run, as Matěj Satoria continued on the same wave as Vykoukal and earned his first save of the season.

Eagles Praha – Sokol Hluboká 5-4

Eagles Praha had a nice comeback against Hluboká as visitors were leading 3-1 after seven innings and were surely thinking about celebrating the win. William Parsons gave Hluboká 7 great inning, striking out 12 batters. However, he was substituted in the eighth inning by Štěpán Havlíček and home team took advantage of it when they scored three runs and took the lead. However, Martin Mužík made the best out of a throwing error in the ninth inning as he was stealing a base and managed to score. Eagles get on an offensive run in the bottom half at first loading the bases, for Martin Červenka to be walked and manufacturing the walk-off walk.

Draci Brno – Třebíč Nuclears 7-8

If you were watching ČT Sport Plus on Friday, you certainly saw a game few of dramatic moments and great emotions, which lead to several of the home players being ejected. It was especially hot tempered Pabel Manzanero who had to be held back by his teammates to avoid physical confrontation with the umpire Marek Vičar. Draci will now have to hope the disciplinary committee will be more understanding and won’t give him a stop for multiple games.

Nevertheless, home team entered the game better, when Eugene Helder scored in two run with his hit. Nuclears managed to get the lead back in the following inning, when they scored 5 runs against Filip Čapka. An interesting duel saw the game tied in the third inning, and visitors substituted the pitcher. Ryan Johnson came in for Lukáš Smejkal. Johnson managed to freeze home batters, and his teammates added a three run cushion in the sixth inning.

Unfortunately, home players got swept by some of the referee’s decisions in the sixth and seventh inning and few of them ended up ejected from the game. The two foreigners, Eugene Helder and Pabel Manzanero were among them. Despite this Draci managed to make the end of the game more dramatic. First, they scored the sixth run after Dubový sent Filip Moštěk home, for Jakub Hajtmar‘s solo homerun in the ninth inning to get Draci only one run away from tying the game. Ryan Johnson didn’t allow the momentum to settle and Třebíč took an important win from Draci. It also meant they will play in TOP 6 for the first time in their history.

EXL Standings

Podpoř nás za cenu jedné kávy! Nebo si kup náš merch!