EXL: Barcena led Eagles. Two close games at Vysočina
There were five games played in Extraliga on Saturday, and if you were to see any of them you got to see a good baseball.
After the game on Friday was postponed, the series between Draci and Kotlářka started. Brno entered it better, after Arnošt Dubový blasted a solo homerun in the first inning. Alex Monsalve then batted in the second run in the third inning and Jakub Hajtmar improved Draci lead to 4-0.
Filip Čapka on Draci mound kept his opponents scoreless till the fourth inning. Kotlářka scored a run after a hit from David Komorous, and the second one came with the loaded bases from Ben Morgan. However, Draci added 5 runs in the next half inning, which forced Lukáš Ercoli out of the game, and since then they controlled the game. Tomáš Hrbek and Tomáš Urbánek then closed the game without issues and Draci won 11-2.
Hroši with another win
Hroši Brno started with Tomáš Ondra on the mound on Saturday, which meant huge trouble for Hluboká’s batters. Brno starter controlled his pitches and he pitched the first scoreless game this season. He was also aided by the fact that he didn’t walk anyone for the first time this season. Furthermore, his teammates gave him a run cushion in the very first inning thanks to a hit from Petr Čech.
Vojtěch Vlach also didn’t have a bad game for Sokol, when he only allowed 2 runs in 4 innings. Hosts then added two more runs in the sixth inning thanks to Marek Krejčiřík. The fifth and the last run of the game was then batted in by David Fiala in the bottom half of the seventh inning.
Hroši secured the series after 5-0 win and will get the chance for a sweep on Sunday.
Eagles on winning wave
Eagles Praha beat their city rival Tempo 13-3 in the televised game. Team in white and green were hugely helped by Willie Barcena, who blasted two homeruns and had 7 RBI. He became only seventh player since 2016 who managed to do so, and only the second in the past four years. Šimon Blažek mimicked Barcena with another two run homerun. Koya Uemura added 4 hits and 3 runs.
Tempo fans could be at least pleased with the first season homerun from Marek Minařík. Elvys Castro continued in his solid performances and added 2 hits to his statistics.
Tomáš Duffek earned another win, when he remained on the mound for 6 innings and allowed 2 runs (1ER). David Wilson then closed the game and Tempo was only able to score one run against him. Eagles tied the series with the win. On the other hand, Tempo is currently in the second to last place and is slowly starting to lose track with the first four spots.
Two close games at Vysočina
After a crazy game on Friday, Saturday brought much tighter performances. It was especially the pitchers who had a good day. The first game saw Jan Tomek face Lukáš Pacal. It was the visiting pitcher especially who controlled the strikezone and struck out 7 batters in 7 innings. Hosts scored 2 runs against him, but one was unearned. Lukáš Pacal also earned a quality start, when he only allowed 1 run in 6 innings and added 5 strikeouts.
The most interesting things happened in the last two innings, however. First, the best batter of the game Dan Kawanishi gave Třebíč 3-2 lead with a solo homerun in the eighth inning. Aleš Navrátil, the first batter in the ninth inning, reached the based after an error. He was then substituted for Viktor Kaňok and after Novotný’s hit he moved to the third base. Jakub Kubica then blasted a ball to the left outfield, which was caught in air by Jan Urbánek. He immediately tried to throw it to the home base to stop Ostrava from tying the game. However, Jan Bilíček had a bad read of the situation, and he didn’t allow the ball to reach the home catcher. The game was tied at 3-3.
The youngster, however, rectified his error. Urbánek started Nuclears offense with a double, for a bunt to move him to the third base and after a wild pitch hosts could celebrate a win.
The third game of the series started better for the hosts, who took 1-0 lead in the first inning after a hit from Jake Rabinowitz. This was all offenses managed to muster for a while as both Boris Bokaj and Lukáš Hlouch pitched a good game. Arrows took the lead in the fourth inning. First, Brandon Smith tied the game with a solo homerun for Jakub Mánek to bat in another on a moment later.
Hlouch finished the game with 10 strikeouts in 7 innings. He also didn’t walk anyone. Boris Bokaj remained on the mound for 6 innings with one run allowed. Bullpen of both teams had a tough task of keeping the same level of pitching. Both Filip Kollmann and visiting Alexandr Šín managed to do just that, as they didn’t allow any runs. The game finished with a close 2-1 win for Arrows
