Mister Baseball

Dortmund Wanderers - Hanover Regents 15-1, 8-6

HRG 000 010 0   1  8 3
DOW 901 113 X  15 15 1

HRG 000 230 001  6 10 1
DOW 023 000 003  8 12 5

The promoted WANDERERS finally played their home opener. They swept the REGENTS in two different games. The first part of the doubleheader was an impressive 15-1 victory. DORTMUND send 14 men to the plate in the first frame and scored nine runs to decide the outcome early. Tobias Willach scored three times, twice in the first. All nine starters reached home at least once. Eight drove in runs. Starter Rene Herlitzius pitched 5 1/3 innings, allowing four hits, a run and two walks. HANOVER’s Martin Fries retired just one of the six batters he faced and took the loss.

Was the first match on Saturday lopsided, so was the second a thriller. The WANDERERS scored again first and built up a 5-0 advantage after three innings. However the REGENTS came back and tied the contest in the fifth. The game went into the ninth, when HANOVER took the lead for the first time on a sac fly by Christoph Mohr. But DORMTUND rallied in the bottom of the frame and celebrated an 8-6 win after the walk-off three-run homerun by Josh Liveley. Starter Matt Kemp went the distance and received the win after giving up ten hits, six runs (4 ER) and four walks, while striking out nine. Mike Lantzy was charged with eleven hits, five runs and one walk in eight innings. Sean Bakuniec replaced him in the ninth and took the loss.

Cologne Cardinals - Solingen Alligators 7-8, 3-12
The ALLIGATORS nearly blew a five-run lead in the first, but prevailed and swept the doubleheader between undefeated teams in Cologne.

In the first game SOLINGEN already led 8-3 after eight innings. But the CARDS rallied for four runs on one-out two-RBI hits by Taishi Nakamura and Anderson Alvarez and had the favorite at the ropes. But they regrouped and got the final outs through a strikeout and a fly ball.

Big innings in the second part of the doubleheader sealed the sweep against COLOGNE. Dominik Wulf had four RBI.

Paderborn Untouchables - Bonn Capitals 14-2, 9-2
Octavio Medina led the UNTOUCHABLES with five hits to two easy victories against the CAPITALS. Starting pitcher Eugen Heilmann pitched in both games over the course of eleven innings. The young team from Bonn was over-matched the whole day.

PADERBORN now takes on the undefeated ALLIGATORS on May 1st in a clash of undefeated teams.

Neunkirchen Nightmares - HSV Stealers 3-2, 5-3
The trip for the STEALERS to Neunkirchen was a real nightmare for them (sorry). The HSV was started into the season with high expectations. But now they find themselves in eighth and last place in the standings after losing twice last weekend.

The NIGHTMARES, without a win in the first three weeks of 2008, overcame a 0-2 deficit in game one to celebrate for the first time in the victory lane. They tied the match in the sixth and scored the go-ahead run in the eighth for a final score of 3-2. Sergei Heinrich received the win.

Motivated by the great result in the first, NEUNKIRCHEN started strong in the second part of the doubleheader, scoring five runs in the first three periods to take a 5-1 lead. The STEALERS cut the deficit to two runs, but failed to convert scoring opportunities with the bases loaded afterwards.

Photo: © Gregor Eisenhuth