



Regensburg Legionäre 1 – 4 Draci Brno

Tonight, the Buchbinder Legionäre took on Draci Brno in the Czech city for the very first game of the Euro League Baseball. The president of the European Association of Professional Baseball, Wim van den Hurk threw out the ceremonial first pitch.

Lukas Jahn hit the very first hit in ELB history as he hit a lead off single to left field. Even though Jahn got on third base eventually, Regensburg failed to score the opening run, something Draci Brno did, when Adam Hajtmar got on base thanks to an error by second baseman Lukas Jahn and reached second base on a passed ball. Martin Schneider eventually drove in Hajtmar on a single to center field.

Bong Kyu Kang got on base in the fourth inning on a single to left field. A wild pitch by Jason Jarvis made him advance to second base and a 4-3 ground out, hit by Elias von Garssen, made him advance to third base. When David Dinski got on base on an error by shortstop Martin Schneider, Kang could score the game tying run.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Regensburg manager, Ivan Rodriguez Rodriguez replaced pitcher Mike Bolsenbroek with Jonathan Eisenhuth. Eisenhuth started very well as he retired the side in the fourth and the fifth inning. But in the bottom of the sixth inning Eisenhuth served up a pitch to Adam Hajtmar that the latter hit away for a single to center field. Then with two outs, Martin Schneider doubled to right field and drove in Adam Hajtmar for the go-ahead run.Eisenhuth was replaced in the bottom of the seventh inning by Bradley Merrit, who started with retiring the first three batters that he faced.

Until the eighth inning, the game was merely a pitching duel but in the bottom of the eighth, Brno flexed its muscles.

In the top of the eighth inning, Draci’s starting pitcher Jason Jarvis was replaced by Petr Minarik, who also sent the first three batters that he faced, back to the dugout.

With one out in the bottom of the eighth inning, Jakub Hajtmar bunted to the left side of the infield. Third baseman Nino Sacasa charged the ground ball but threw way passed first base, so Hajtmar could advance to second base on the error. With Adam Hajtmar at bat and one out, Jakub Hajtmar stole third base. When Adam Hajtmar was hit by a pitch, Draci Brno had runners on the corners. Premek Chroust drove in Jakub Hajtmar on a single and with Martin Schneider at bat, Adam Hajtmar showed that his brother isn’t the only one who can steal third base. Bradley Merrit gave up a walk to Martin Schneider to load the bases. Another walk, this time given up to pinch hitter Petr Cech, drove in Adam Hajtmar for Brno’s fourth run of the game. Eventually Merrit retired Pavel Budsky for the final out but by then the damage was already done.

In a couple of defensive moves, the manager of Draci Brno moved Martin Schneider to the mound to close the game. Schneider started with walking Kang on six pitches and by giving up a single to left field to Elias von Garssen. A force out at second base, hit by David Dinski put runners on the corners for Regensburg. But Schneider retired the next two batters on strikeouts for the save.

Jason Jarvis cruised through seven innings for the win. He gave up one run on five hits, walked one and struck out seven.

Jonathan Eisenhut took the loss after he gave up one run on two hits in three innings of relief pitching.

Best hitter for the Dragons from Brno was Martin Schneider, who went 2 for 3 with a double and two runs batted in. In fact you can say that by being the best hitter and by earning the save, Martin Schneider was the man of the match.