First League: Klasik’s Opening Day didn’t go according to plan. Hippos still without a win

The second top league continued over Easter, unfortunately only three out of four games were played. Jablonec field wasn’t ready and thus the game between Blesk and Olympia had to be postponed.

Pelikans Bučovice – SaBaT Praha 13-8 and 1-14 (F/7)

Good Friday saw Bučovice face SaBaT at home and the two teams split the doubleheader. It was especially the first game of the series that was close till about the half mark. Visitors then didn’t have luck with their substitution, when they sent in the new man in their roster Joshua Paull. His pitches seems to be what his opponents were looking for and Pelikans scored 11 runs in 4 innings. Duo Adam Kubečka and Lukáš Řehůřek were especially active in offense, as they had 8 out of 15 Pelikans hits.

The second game shifted rapidly right from the start as SaBaT scored two runs. Prague team then kept adding more runs, helped by defensive errors from their opponent. Pelikans finished the game with 7 errors making it difficult to win. SaBaT also saved some pitching arms when Kryštof Dupal threw a complete game. Pitcher has a good start of the season as he currently has 16 IP with ERA 1.69 in 2 games.

Klasik Frýdek-Místek – Skokani Olomouc 1-12 (F/7) and 1-11 (F/8)

Holy Saturday saw Frýdek-Místek play their first home game of the weeks, however, after winning 2 games in the Opening Week they lost both games to favorites from Olomouc.

Surprisingly, Skokani weren’t able to beat Blansko in the first round and thus they came to Frýdek-Místek with the best they got. Their roster listed the Czech national team WBC hero Martin Schneider, or experienced former national players such as Jakub Voják and Přemek Chroust. And it was this trio that caused Klasik pitchers the most trouble when they had almost a half of Skokani’s hits.

Home team had a bad start in both games, when Olomouc scored 5 and 2 runs to get an early lead. Home batters had issues to get on bases and in the end Klasik only scored 1 run in each game.

Despite two losses, the mood in the stands was cheerful, thanks to a famous musician and producer Dejan Petrovic who is known through is pseudonym PsychoRhyme. He was also the one to throw the first pitch. Baseball afternoon was also enriched by competitions for club merchandise. Furthermore, Martin Schneider contributed an unexpected price, a signed bat he broke in the first game and which became a valuable item the a lucky winner.

„The two losses hurt us,“ admitted Klasik manager Jakub Kaplan, „I don’t think we were embarrassing ourselves. Especially the younger players, who we need to push in the games, played very well. Skokani have a tough lineup and they are overall good team. It is difficult to play against them, but guys weren’t scared and had a good approach.“

„Pitchers should be credited for the win, who only allowed 2 runs, which is great. Unlike in the previous week they attacked the strikezone from the beginning, they started with strikes. We played great games and we improved on bat,“ summed up Skokani playing manager Jakub Voják in BK Klasik press release.

Hippos Brno – Kotlářka Praha 0-6 and 0-11 (F/8)

Hroši B-team wasn’t able to win in the Opening Week and they were unable to do so against Kotlářká either. The main reason was Prague pitching who kept Hippos scoreless in both games. Despite the results, both games were competitive. Especially the second one, which was still scoreless after 6 innings, when both starters Vojtěch Vlach and home Viktor Beránek showed an excellent performance. But next two innings saw Kotlářka bats get a move on and Hippos relievers were unable to stop them. Prague team finished the game early and after two wins they are currently at shared first place in the standings. On the other hand Hippos are currently last and are the only winless team.

First League Standings

#	Team		W	L	T	PCT	GB
1		SAB SaBaT	3	1	0	.750	0
1		BLA Olympia	2	0	0	1.000	0
1		KOT Kotlářka	2	1	0	.667	0
4		BLE Blesk	1	1	0	.500	1
4		KLA Klasik	2	2	0	.500	1
4		SKO Skokani	2	2	0	.500	1
7		BUC Pelikans	1	3	0	.250	2
8		HIP Hippos	0	3	0	.000	2.5