After the narrow defeat in Brno (4:5 after extra time), it was clear that Heidenheim had to win their home game against the “Dragons”. Their thrower Filip Capka was a tough nut to crack, however. The Czech’s throws were not particularly hard, but he always managed to get the ball moving at the last moment, so that the HSB players rarely hit the small leather ball cleanly. For a long time, the 1:0 goal by Simon Gühring was the only point.
Outstanding performance as a pitcher
On the other hand, Drew Janssen also had a great day. So far this season, the 24-year-old has mainly appeared as a hitter and position player, and now he has once again shown what a repertoire of throws he has. Janssen gave up a few walks, but only allowed one hit in seven innings, threw nine strikeouts and did not concede a single point.
“Seven innings without a point is not bad, but I also had a good catcher in Daniel Vavrusa and was lucky that the Brno team kept swinging at the right moment – at the right moment for me,” said Janssen after the game, somewhat self-critically. Would he like to play as a pitcher more often? “If the coach needs me there, then I’d be happy to,” said the player, who has now been playing for the Heideköpfe for the fourth year and is one of the few baseball players who can actually play in all positions. Coach Klaus Eckle would probably love to run his “favorite Belgian” through the copier and line him up once as a pitcher and once as a position player and batter.
Home runs by Williams and Janssen
The game was decided in the setback of the seventh inning when Brünn changed pitchers. Tomas Urbanek managed two outs, but then the Heideköpfe rallied: Gary Owens landed a hit and finally came home to make it 2-0 after a hit by the veteran Simon Gühring, who was playing well again. A walk for Shawn Larry followed and then Germaine Williams had his big moment, thundering the ball over the left field fence for a home run at a height of 20 meters. That made it 5-0, but the hosts were not yet satisfied. After a walk for Vavrusa, Janssen crowned his day with another home run to make it 7-0.
Although Brünn also reduced the score to 7:2 with a home run in the eighth inning, Mike Bolsenbroek and Sven Schüller as pitchers had no trouble securing the clear victory. Larry also put in a strong performance, getting on base with one hit and three walks on each attempt. Overall, however, it was a solid team effort from the Heideköpfe, who played flawlessly on defense.
Three teams tied at the top
In the other Champions Cup game, Regensburg won 6-0 in Prague, so the score is now as follows: Heidenheim, Brno and Regensburg are tied with 2-1 wins each, while Prague (0-3) is already out of the race. Since the top games so far have mostly ended close, the five-point difference from Wednesday’s win could still be very valuable. Heidenheim has already won the direct comparison against Brno.
Heideköpfe: Schulz (2B; 1 hit in 5 batting attempts), Owens (CF; 1/), Gühring (1B; 2/4, 1 RBI), Larry (RF; 1/1, 3 walks), Williams (3B; 1/4, 1 home run, 3 RBI), Vavrusa (C; 2/3, 1 walk), Janssen (P; 1/4, 1 home run, 2 RBI), Liedtke (SS; 2/4), Dinski (LF; 0/2), Redle (PH; 0/2), Holl (LF) – Pitcher: Janssen (7 innings, 0 earned runs, 9 strikeouts), Bolsenbroek (1 I, 2 ER, 1 SO), Schüller (1 I, 0 ER, 1 SO)
Next up is Hünstetten
After the Champions Cup clash against Brno, the Heidenheim baseball players are faced with the difficult task of concentrating again on the Bundesliga games against Hünstetten Storm. The bottom team will be playing two games at the Heideköpfe Ballpark on Sunday.
The Heideköpfe are of course the clear favorites, but there are pitfalls. The HSB players are still mentally and physically affected by Wednesday’s match, and they will only play seven innings twice, which gives the opponents, who have less top-class pitchers, a slight advantage. The defeat in the first duel in Hünstetten should be enough of a warning for the Heidenheimers. The match starts at 1 p.m., and the second match starts at around 4 p.m.
2024-06-13 13:53:54
#Heideköpfe #Eurofighter #Heidenheimer #Zeitung
