EXL: Eagles continues with a good start. Draci stumbled in southern Bohemia
There were 6 games played in Extraliga on Sunday, bringing plenty of interesting results.
Eagles Praha – Technika Brno 9-7
With a certainty of a won series, Eagles entered the third game against Technika in a good mood. And they showed it at the very beginning, when Eagles scored 5 runs against Technika starter Parker Thode.
Their starter Albert Pražák threw 3 innings practically without a fault, however, the fourth saw him face the lineup for the second time and it didn’t bode well for him. Technika came close with 3 runs scored, all started with a homerun from Peter Saldana. An inning later, visitors once again pushed and quickly tied the game, after Matěj Menšík got 2 RBI. Tadeáš Zavadil then come on mound, however, Saldana got Technika lead from the second pitch he faced. Matěj Brabec then increased it afterwards.
Eagles were able to answer quickly in the bottom half of the inning and forced Thode’s substitution with 2 runs. Radek Burian then came in for him.
The game remained tied until the eighth inning. There Šimon Blažek showed off with a base clearing triple, and gave the home team lead again. Blažek was then tasked to get the save. Technika managed to press him, and also thanks to a defensive error they were able to load the bases with one out. Blažek helped himself with an important strikeout and Robert Regner then hit the ball into a simple fly out. Eagles won third series and increased their chances of remaining in TOP 6, as they only lost one game out of eight so far.
Hroši Brno – Arrows Ostrava 8-1
We could so five innings of a close baseball in Brno-Jundrov on Sunday, and a solid pitching duel between visiting Marek Vykoukal and home James Jensen. First run came in the sixth inning and came for the home side. Everything started with an away team’s error, for Lukáš Trunkát to get 2 RBI. Third one came after another Arrows error.
In that moment both teams changed their starting pitchers, which was more of an advantage for the home team. They scored 5 more runs against Michal Puškár and practically decided their win, since Luis Rengel only allowed on win for Arrows for the remainder of the game, which wasn’t nearly enough for Ostrava win.
Hroši won the second game of the series and they get a chance for a sweep on Monday in northern Moravia. On the other hand Arrows are far from an ideal start of the season, when they only won 2 out of 7 games.
Tempo Praha – Třebíč Nuclears 2-6 and 5-4
There was a quiet interesting doubleheader played between Tempo and Třebíč on Sunday. The first game saw two national team teammates face each other and the teams started Jake Rabinowitz and Marek Minařík. It was also the first game of the season for the home starter. Both pitchers showed their high standard and the game was tied at 1-1 after five innings.
Everything changed in the sixth inning, however, when visitors forced a changed on the mound and they got to see a man familiar to them, Tadeáš Kalčev. Young pitcher had problems on the mound, and after walking 4 batters, he head to be substituted as well. Nuclears managed to score 4 runs against him, however, which turned out to be instrumental for the rest of the game. Tempo only scored one run against Rabinowitz. The last three innings from Lukáš Smejkal were thrown in style, when he only allowed 1 hit and striked out 7 batters. Třebíč thus took the first win of the series.
In the second game it was the players from Vysočina who had better start. In the first inning they already took 2-0 lead, but they didn’t celebrate it for too long. In the bottom of the second inning Tempo tied the game, and in the third duo Keibert Petit and Martin Červenka added two more runs. Lukáš Pacal didn’t do much worse, however, referee called a balk on him in the seventh inning with a runner on third and Tempo was given a free run. This turned out to be decisived and Tempo could celebrate the second win of the season.
The third game of the series is planned for the Monday evening with lights in Třebíč.
Sokol Hluboká – Draci Brno 6-2 and 17-6 (F/7)
The doubleheader in southern Bohemia had a quiet unexpected result, when reigning champions from Brno arrived. Visitors were unable to beat Sokol in either of the game and the second game even finished on mercy rule.
And it was looking like anything but, when Draci started the first game and took a quick 2-0 lead in the second inning. In that moment only few could know Takamune Ichige won’t allow any more runs. On the other hand, the third inning saw a huge moment from Martin Mužík. First, he converted his hit into 2 RBI, for him to scored the third one after a double steal. Home team increased their lead in the middle of the game adding 3 more runs. When Alec Lemmon substituted Ichige visitors hoped were practically over. American pitcher only allowed one batter on base and he got 5 of his 6 outs with a strikeout. Hluboká added an important win right from the first game of the series.
But the second game saw even more shocking win. When we mentioned Draci had a good start in the first game, the second game was anything but. Hluboká scored 8 runs in the first inning, also helped by two defensive errors. Home team then went on with the momentum and continued in the following innings. In the end Sokol win by 11 runs and become the first team in 3 years to beat Draci by at least 11 runs.
Hluboká outhit their opponent, when they had 16 against Draci 10. Eighteen year old pitcher Viktor Sedláček also earned his first ever win in Extraliga and it came against a team with 23 titles. Interesting fact is that all the players in Sokol lineup had at least a hit, except for their best player Martin Mužík who „only“ got two walks.
Hluboká now has their first series win, which will continue with the third game on Tuesday in YD Baseball Arena.
