EXL: Eagles with two wins against Třebíč. Tempo unsuccessful against the champions
Extraliga continued with 4 games on Saturday and we now know the first series winner of the season.
Arrows Ostrava – Sokol Hluboká 8-0
After losing on Saturday, Ostrava wanted to get back at their opponent. They were successful, as they managed to take the lead in the first inning and increased it throughout the game. Arrows helped themselves with 3HR and took 8 run win. Jakub Kubica once again showed why he holds the record in walks, as she increased his tally by 3BB. Arrows pitching also excelled, with starter Boris Bokaj, who didn’t allow any runs in 6 innings and striked out 6 batters. Youngsters Matyáš Pjontek and Jan Kozel then finished the game, keeping their opponent scoreless. After 8-0 win the series is now tied at 1-1 and it will move to southern Bohemia.
Draci Brno – Tempo Praha 16-6 (7 inn.)
A surprisingly easy win was born when Draci faced Tempo Praha. Young starter Aleš Zhao debuted in Extraliga, but he only remained in the game for two innings. Draci then found their bats against the youngster and Zhao was substituted after only 4 outs. Šimon Drápela was unable to stop his former teammates and home team was leading 8-1 after 3 innings.
Gabriel Mendoza had a great debut for Brno team, when he got 7RBI. He became only 4th Draci player since 2016 to have at least 7RBI in a game.
Beside Mendoza there were three more Draci players with 3 hits, but no Tempo player to do the same. Viktor Hluchý and Martin Červenka, the best Tempo batters, both had 2 hits. The game finished on mercy rule after 7 innings.
Eagles Praha - Třebíč Nuclears 12-2 (7inn.) and 8-5
The first game between Eagles and Nuclears also finished early. Visitors started well, when they got two runs after hits from Johnson and Rabinowitz. However, Třebíč was unable to carry to momentum to the remainder of the game. On the other hand, home batters slowly woke up and, thanks to a few errors from the visitors, they slowly started to take over the game. Tomáš Duffek, on Eagles mound, threw 5 innings, striking out 5 batters. New signing Gehrig Octavio added a hit and 2 walks. Home team also showed aggressive base-running as they stole 4 bases. All this resulted to the first season win for Eagles.
The second game started in a similar manner, with Nuclears taking 3-0 lead. However, home pitchers silenced their bats afterwards, as Nuclears only scored 2 more runs for the rest of the game. And this was despite Eagles sending trio Albert Pražák - Šimon Vyklický - Matyáš Trčka on the mound, all only 17 years old. Third inning also saw Eagles bats come to life, when they scored 8 runs in 3 innings and took the lead. Futhermore, each of home players had at least a hit. Třebíč helped the home team with 5 errors, resulting into 8-5 Eagles win, and the first series winner of the season. The series now moves to Třebíč where Nuclears try to get their first win of 2023.
