PBW: Czechs beat Germany and hold a chance to advance to the finals
The second game at Prague Baseball Week awaited the Czech national team on Sunday. They faced Germany, which lost to Japan in their first game.
Czechs were pushed forward by the sellout crowd at Eagles Park and started their game actively. Only good defensive plays stopped them from taking the lead in the first inning. But they got their runs an inning later after Martin Zelenka blasted a two run homerun.
Zelí can certainly make your hands clap… 🚀👋🏻
— BaseballCzech (@BaseballCzech) July 7, 2024
🇨🇿 2 – 0 🇩🇪 | 2nd inning#baseballczech #praguebaseballweek pic.twitter.com/vNBMo533FG
Germany first scored against Jan Tomek in the third inning after a hit from Simon Baumgardt. Czechs kept their composure, however, and after a two run homerun from Martin Mužík they managed to build more cushion.
Germans also shown they can hit hard in the fifth inning. Simon Baumgardt’s solo homerun welcomed Lukáš Hlouch who came in on the mound. The same man then made the game more dramatic in the seventh inning when he batted in the third run against Jan Vašourek. This was fortunately all Germany managed to muster and Czech won 4-3.
„We knew what pitcher they have and what he throws. We looked at the video and I think we could get on bases slightly more, but in the end we were able to get runners home. We knew he throws a lot of strikes but we always try to sit on fastballs so that he doesn’t throw it later. But he threw me a slider and it hanged in the middle, so I swung at it and the rest is history,“ said Martin Zelenka after the game, who also took the MVP award for the Czech team.
Czechs will play against the strongest team of the tournament when they face Japan on Monday. They are yet to lose a game. „I’m really excited. I’ve never played against Japan. They are university team, but their performance, what they show out there, they are on a great level. It will be a big battle,“ adds Zelenka.
