German Baseball-Bundesliga: Regensburg shocks Bonn, Split in Mainz
The German Baseball-Bundesliga opened play in the semi-finals this past weekend. The big surprise has been the dominating performance by the Buchbinder Legionaere Regensburg against northern champion Bonn Capitals. Bonn, which had been 24-3 for the season including a three-game sweep over the Stuttgart Reds in the quarterfinals, lost 4-14 and 2-14at home and now facing an uphill battle in the best-of-five series.
On Saturday Regensburg used a pair of five-run rallies to turn an early 0-3 deficit into a win.Lukas Jahn and Chris Howard combined for six RBI. Mike Bolsenbroek pitched eight solid innings for the win. The game was overshadowed by a pair of early ejections by Regensburgs Bong Kyu Kang and Kai Gronauer after a disputed strike call. Kang bumped the umpire with his chest following the ejection, while Gronauer covered home plate with dirt and then threw some bats onto the field. Nonetheless momentum shifted after the antics. One day later Howard and Ludwig Glaser homered, as the Buchbinder Legionaere scored 13 of their 14 runs between the fourth and the seventh against disappointing Capitals hurlersWilson Lee and Maurice Wilhelm.
Meanwhile southern champion Mainz Athletics and defending champion Heidenheim Heidekoepfe split the first two games of their semi-final series. On Saturday evening Jay Pecci and Simon Guehring had a pair of RBI singles in the eighth to turn a 3-4 score into a 5-4 win for the Heidekoepfe. Heidenheim, which out-hit Mainz 16-3 in the game, overcame deficit of 0-3 and 3-4 in the game. On Sunday Eric Massingham and Wes Roemer were locked into a pitcher’s duel with both racking up 13 strikeouts in nine respective eight innings. However Massingham issued just four hits, while Roemer did ten and the Athletics won 5-1. Max Boldt hit a two-run home run in the first to set the tone. Kevin Kotowski also went deep for Mainz.
Photo by Gregor Eisenhuth, www.eisenhuth-photographie.de
