EXL: Kotlářka with a football win. Hroši won the first game in derby
The fifth round of Extraliga started on Friday with four games. They were dominated by pitchers and neither brought a huge win.
Probably the most interesting matchup of the round is the series between two Brno teams. And looking at the starting pitchers the first game promised an interesting matchup. This was a correct assumption when visiting Toru Murata and home Jhenderson Hurtado allowed 2 runs each in six innings. The win was decided by bullpens. Draci sent Filip Čapka for the seventh inning and Hroši were able to take advantage of the substitution when Petr Čech batted in Martin Červenka. The same player then reached the home base in the ninth inning. This time thanks to Matěj Menšík’s RBI. Draci, on the other hand, had tough time against John Hussey, who struck out 7 batters in the remaining 3 innings. Thanks to this Hroši won the first game 4-2.
Kotlářka took out Třebíč
Duel at Vysočina was controlled by pitchers. Czech fans could be satisfied by the fact that both of them were young Czech talents. Home Lukáš Pacal finished with 13 strikeouts in 7 innings. His opponent on the mound, David Křeček was not far behind, with 7 SO in 7 innings. Both starters only allowed 3 hits each and kept the game scoreless. The winner was decided in the ninth inning. It was started by Tomáš Burkert who showed a solid bunt and then stole the second base. Burkert then ran for the third base after a sacrificial hit from Jan Komorous, where hosts made an error and they gifted the visitors the winning run. Experienced Wesley Roemer handled the bottom half of the inning and after winning 1-0 Kotlářka won their third game of the season.
Arrows betrayed by their bats in Prague
Arrows started well in Eagles Park, after Brandon Smith solo homerun gave them an early lead. However, Eagles managed to tie the game in the next half inning after a hit from Jan Výbora. Hosts then took advantage of a weaker defensive plays in the third inning and added 4 runs. Hosts had hard times responding, since Natsuki Tamba didn’t allow them many hits. Ostrava took advantage of an error to add the second run, but this was it for their offense. Furthermore, when Koya Uemura stepped on the mound for the last two innings, he finished the game with two clean innings and 3 SO. Ján Mulč helped Eagles to 3 runs and 6-2 win.
Hassani led Sokol
Hluboká entered the weekend in the last place and if they wanted to catch up with the first four spots, they needed the win. They got their chance on Friday against Tempo. Hluboká sent Austin Hassani on the mound and he did his job perfectly. He only allowed 1 hits in 6 innings and struck out 10 batters.
His teammates gave him a cushion in the third inning when Matěj Vlach’s triple cleared the loaded bases. Hosts were very efficient in the offense when they had 5 hits and 5 runs. On the other hand, Tempo only got 2 runs from 7 hits and they lost the first game 2-5.
