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Draci survives scare, sweeps at Tegola

Crucial Titans mistake leads to five-run Brno outburst in nightcap

By Dave Faries
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
July 18th, 2007 issue

Photo by KATEŘINA MEDŘICKÁ
Aleš Posselt connects.
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Line score

Game 1
Draci 021 000 010 – 4
Titans 010 000 000 – 1
WP-Schneider; LP-Doskočil; SV-Gajdoš; HR-none

Game 2
Draci 000 000 050 – 5
Titans 000 011 000 – 2
WP-Gajdoš; LP-Mráz; HR-Posselt (Teg)

“Almost” is the cruelest word in sports.
Mired in the Extraliga cellar all season long, the Tegola Titans found themselves clinging to a surprising 2–0 lead over mighty Draci Brno late in the second game of a July 14 twin bill at Tegola’s home field in Prague 12.
It was a precarious lead, certainly: one out in the eighth, Draci at bat with runners on the corners. But Eduard Mráz, in relief of ageless starting pitcher Bohumil Bílek, retired Martin Schneider, a .475 hitter, on an easy infield pop up and it looked as if the home team might survive the scare.
One little misplay can often spell disaster, however, particularly when you’re battling the 12-time league champions.
That dastardly word — “almost” — came to define the game when Draci’s Martin Veselý broke from first to draw a throw, committing Tegola’s infield to a run down. The Titans were willing to concede a run, allowing Jan Toman to score from third. But Veselý took advantage of a bobbled throw and scampered safely back to first base.
“We played a pretty good game,” said Tegola’s Aleš Posselt. “We just didn’t do our job in an important situation.”
Rattled, Mráz then plunked David Winkler with a pitch and walked Mitch Ayres to load the bases. Tegola’s pitching staff has been thin all season. They entered the weekend without Zdeněk Stieber and Lubomír Janda, so the Titans called on teenage hurler Marek Červenka, up from the junior ranks, to replace Mráz on the hill.
Tomáš Polanský and Doug Dreher greeted the youngster with back-to-back doubles. Suddenly, Draci held a commanding 5–2 lead.
“We finally settled down,” Dreher said, “[and] started to put some hits together.”
Until the eighth, it had been a tightly fought ballgame. The crafty veteran Bílek, 47, stymied Brno’s bats with an array of off-speed stuff. He worked out of trouble on several occasions, forcing Jiří Marek to ground into a double play with two on in the second and coaxing Ayres into an inning-ending dribbler with runners on in the sixth.
“I’m not a power pitcher,” Bílek said. “I have to keep them off balance.”  
Tegola broke a scoreless stalemate in the sixth, when Posselt smacked a solo home run over the right field fence. “They were pitching me outside all day,” the left-hander said. “He [Brno starter Radek Procházka] got one over the middle and I just made contact, that’s all.”
With two out in the next frame, Adam Matuška slapped a single to right, scoring František Kučera and setting up the dramatic conclusion.
Missed opportunities
The opening game was a more frustrating affair for Tegola. Brno jumped out to a 2–0 lead after Tegola’s right fielder, Matuška, lost a fly ball in the sun and scored again in the third on an RBI double by Matthew Blackmore.
Then the home squad settled down. Starting pitcher Jakub Doskočil, though never completely out of trouble, held in check through the middle innings.
“He controlled the ball well,” said Brno coach Arnošt Nesňal. “There was a lot of movement.”
Tegola managed a run in the second when Kučera singled, advanced to third on an error, and crossed the plate after a sacrifice fly by Marek Rejman. But they left runners stranded in scoring position four times.
Draci made it 4–1 in the eighth, then shut down a Titans rally in the bottom half of the inning, Marian Gajdoš earning the save in relief of Schneider and Marek.
Both teams entered the weekend with depleted rosters. Tegola catcher Jiří Aubrecht was away on holiday. Brno stars Michal Břeň (illness) and Pavel Budský (birth of his second child) did not make the trip.
Still, it was a day when David almost toppled Goliath.
“We just made one crucial mistake,” Bílek concluded. “And that was it.”

Dave Faries can be reached at dfaries@praguepost.com


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