EXL: Drací raided Ostrava. Hroši lost on mercy rule

29.4.2023 Zuzana Ferková 4 min read

Extraliga continued with two games on Friday. The game between Nuclears and Hluboká had to be postponed due to weather conditions.

Arrows Ostrava – Draci Brno 2-10

Two of the historically most successful Extraliga teams faced each other in Ostrava. However, this year they are both struggling and belong to the bottom part of the table. In an attempt to improve their season both teams brought new players and we got to see them on Friday. Home Rory Graf-Brennen played on shortstop and visiting Jhenderson Hurtado started on the mound.

The game started better for the home team, who created a promising chance in the first inning, when they loaded the bases with one out. However, after a contact from Jakub Grepl and bad baserunning, visitors played double play and Arrows didn’t score. And Draci punished them in the following half inning. First, Beicker Mendoza‘ solo homerun beat Alexandr Šín for Martin Kalábek to follow up with a two run homerun soon after.

Ostrava scored for the first time in the bottom half of the second inning, when Daniel Černý sent home a runner. This was the only run Hurtado allowed in 5 innings he pitched in his premier. Draci continued hitting, Milan Prokop blasted a solo homorun in the third inning, and after hits from Mendoza and Přemek Chroust they added 3 more runs.

Visitors welcomed back some well known names in Arnošt Dubový, Jakub Winkler and Michal Šindelka, all earning their first start of the season. Winkler took Sanchez’s position and he started with 2 hits and 2 runs. Draci sent another new name on the mound in the sixth inning. Jackson Solarte had a bit of a rough start against Arrows, when they scored a run against him, but next inning saw him gain confidence and keep his opponents scoreless. Draci took the win and improved their record to 6-6. Arrows, on the other hand are currently 4-7 after 11 games.

Eagles Praha – Hroši Brno 13-3 (F/7)

The first game between the top 2 teams of the league went better for Eagles. They beat Hroši on mercy rule after seven innings despite the game looking much closer than the score shows. Prague was leading only 1-0 after 4 innings. Furthermore Hroši tied the game against Albert Pražák after Petr Čech’s hit in the fifth inning.

Lukáš Ercoli then started the following inning with two strikeouts, but then he lost control over his pitches and after hitting a batter and two walks, Eagles loaded the bases. Michal Antoň‚s hit then sent home two runners and Šimon Blažek reached the base on balls afterwards. Luis Rengel came to relieve Ercoli, but he was welcomed by a base clearing double from Petr Zýma, which saw Eagles take 6-1 lead.

Score then changed rapidly in the seventh inning. Prague fielded Tadeáš Zavadil on the mound and Hroši scored 2 runs against him after hits from Čech and Jan Pospíšil. But the home team started a scoring hurricane in the bottom half of the inning. Visiting reliever Matyáš Němčanský didn’t have control of his pitches as he walked 5 batters without throwing an entire inning. With two outs and bases loaded the score was at 9-3 and we saw Jan Pospíšil come to pitch. But he wasn’t helped by the defense when they made an error instead of third out and Eagles cleared the bases. They loaded them again after hits from Salbé and Ocatvio for Michal Antoň to reach bases on balls after which Eagles scored their 13th run and finished the game prematurely.

With series at 1-0 for Eagles the next game will be played in Brno where Hroši attempt to get two wins. Prague is doing much worse away than at home so Brno will hope their remaining games would go better.

Extraliga Standings

#		W	L	T	PCT	GB
1	EAG Eagles	9	4	0	.692	0
2	HRO Hroši	7	3	0	.700	0.5
3	HLU Hluboká	6	4	1	.591	1.5
4	DRA Draci	6	6	0	.500	2.5
4	NUC Nuclears	6	6	0	.500	2.5
6	ARR Arrows	4	7	1	.375	4
6	TEM Tempo	4	7	0	.364	4
8	TEC Technika	3	8	0	.273	5