EXL: Tempo Praha won their first series. Technika with a walk-off win

Saturday games in Extraliga make TOP 6 spots even more contested. Martin Červenka also extended his hitting streak to 16 games.

Draci Brno – Hroši Brno 10-4

Both starters were able to keep their opponent scoreless for three innings. However, Draci had a big inning in the fourth. Hroši were forced to substitute their starter Lukáš Ercoli for Jakub Bílek, but home team already scored 10 runs and it would be difficult to catch up with them.

The remainder of the game was on home pitchers‘ shoulders. Jan Vašourek gave Draci 5 innings where he only allowed 2 runs. Afterwards we got to see Ondřej Furko‚s first full inning of the season and he didn’t allow any runners on bases. David Mergans then game to finish the game. Despite allowing two runs scored, these weren’t enough to get Hroši win.

Draci won the second game of the series and moved to the first half of Extraliga table. They will get a chance to get an important sweep in Jundrov on Sunday.

Tempo Praha – Sokol Hluboká 15-9

Hluboká started the game against Tempo well, after they got 7-1 ahead after 2 innings, thanks to 3 run homerun from Matěj Dvořák and grand slam from Martin Mužík. However, the bottom half of the second inning saw home batters awaken and Tempo only needed 3 innings to take the lead. But it was the eighth inning that ensured their win when Tempo scored 5 runs.

Visitors showed huge respect for Martin Červenka, who had a hit in the game, increased his hitting streak to 16 games. Beside that Czech national team player walked 5 times, 2 of which were intentional. Keibert Petit also had a good game, when he was the only home team player with 3 hits.

Tempo won the second game of the series and are now certain to win their first series of the season. On the other hand, Sokol won only 1 of their last 5 games and they are slowly descending in Extraliga table. If they were to lose to Tempo on Sunday, they can even lose their TOP 6 spot.

Eagles Praha – Arrows Ostrava 10-4

The second Prague team also didn’t start their game against Arrows well, when Ostrava got an early 3-1 lead. Eagles picked up their game in the 4th innings, however and forced the visitors to change Arrows starter Jan Kozel in the sixth inning. However, Ostrava made an error in the defense with new pitcher and Eagles managed to get their first lead of the game. They didn’t let it go and tied the series at 1-1.

The game itself saw a number of errors, which we saw 9 in total. Only 8 of 14 runs were earned. Jan Výbora had a great game where he earned 4 hits. He also had 1 HR and only missed triple to Cycle. For Arrows it was Radim Novotný who finished with 3 hits and who is now closing in on Jakub Malík in team statistics. Rory Graf-Brennen is going through a slump as he finished without a hit and currently holds BA .087.

Series is tied at 1-1 and it moves to northern Moravia on Sunday.

Technika Brno – Třebíč Nuclears 5-4

The last game of the series brought an interesting pitching duel. Home Ryan Johnson and Parker Thode showed nice pitching, but Technika pitcher was the first to concede runs, when Jan Bilíček scored in the first run of the game in the second inning. Technika pressed in the third inning and took the lead with three runs. Johnson didn’t allow them more. Nuclears got more runs in the fourth inning and Bilíček was once again in the middle of it when he sent Rabinowitz home for the second time.

Nuclears called on Jeffrey Barto in the sixth inning, who is having a great season. Technika defense helped him in the eighth inning, when they allowed Nuclears to take 4-3 lead with unnecessary errors.

However, Technika was the home team in the game and they had 9th inning to sweep the tide. And they took the opportunity, even if they were helped by Nuclears who made 5 errors in the game. Technika had runners on 2 bases with one out. Matěj Menšík sent home the tying run, for Peter Saldana to get the walk-off hit.

Technika got an important win, and still has chances to end up in TOP 6. They are only one win behind the sixth spot now. Třebíč holds 10-8 record and is currently in the 3rd spot.