by Thommy Brolin
Game 1:
Sundbyberg fought off a strong rally from Gefle in Saturday’s first game of the doubleheader, and is still undefeated at Nya Örvallen, Sundbyberg’s new home, and Sweden’s new national stadium.
Sundbyberg started with a bang, and sported really hot bats in the first inning. With one out and Peter Elfwing on the first base, Philip Gajzler lined a single to leftfield and moved Peter Elfwing to second. Shawn Vance followed with a single to leftfield that scored Peppe Elfwing from second base and gave Sundbyberg a 1 – 0 lead.
With Philip Gajzler on second and Shawn Vance on first Robert Porsklint was the next batter. He connected perfectly on Peter Jansson’s offering and belted a Homerun over the right field wall. Three runs scored to bolster Sundbyberg’s lead to 4-0. After Per Lindgren flied out to center field, Ricardo Martinez and Johan Jansson hit base hits to leftfield, and Sundbyberg had runners at first and third. 16-year-old Victor Croneld, DH in Sundbyberg, hit a single to right field (also his second base hit in his second at bat of his young career) and Ricardo Martinez scored another run, and Sundbyberg lead 5-0 after the first inning.
In the second inning Shawn Vance hits a single and scores on a balk by Gefle’s Peter Jansson. So with one out in second inning, Sundbyberg had 6-0 lead and seven hits, one of those a Homerun.
But after the initial outburst the Sundbyberg’s bats cooled down almost completely, and during rest of the game the home team only mustered two more hits (a double by Peter Elfwing in the sixth inning, and a single by Shawn Vance in the seventh), and no further runs.
Peter Jansson pitched very effectively for Gefle the rest of the game, and also participated in Gefle’s comeback offensively with two hits in the fourth and seventh innings.
Gefle was held scoreless in the first four innings, but guests started their rally in the fifth inning. Eric Toste starts the inning with a base-on-balls, then stole second and got to third on Johan Häglund’s single to center field. Erek Mullin scored Eric Toste and Gefle’s first run with a single to right field. Kristoffer Sjöberg made an out on an Infield Fly, before Gefle’s center fielder Dane Youtz scored Johan Häglund with a single to centerfield. Tomas Jansson followed with a Sacrifice Fly to centerfield where Erek Mullin cut the deficit to 6 – 3.
Erek Mullin started the seventh inning with a double to centerfield, and then scored on a single by Peter Jansson, and cut the lead further to 6 – 4. In the ninth inning Gefle mounted its last threat when their best batter Erek Mullin starts the inning with a single to leftfield, and advanced to second base when Sundbyberg couldn’t get the ball to second quickly enough.
John Källström, this season’s new acquisition from Westeras, pitched very well for Sundbyberg into the ninth inning. After giving up the base hit to Mullin, Sundbyberg replaced Källström with closer John Tisell with Erek Mullin on second base. An error by Sundbyberg on the next batter Kristoffer Sjöberg scored Erek Mullin and made the score 6 – 5.
John Tisell got Dane Youtz to hit a ground ball to shortstop Eric Mercado who Kristoffer Sjöberg out at second base for the first out of the inning. Tomas Jansson hit a base hit to right field, and Gefle had runners on first and second with only one out. The next batter Peter Jansson grounded out to Robert Porsklint at first base, but Dane Youtz advanced to third, and Tomas Jansson to second base.
With two out Sundbyberg intentionally walks Tomas Börjes, and Gefle filled the bases.
Johan Tisell showed what an excellent closer he is by striking out Gefle’s pinch-hitter Michael Boström to end the game.
Sundbyberg victory gives the team a perfect 7 – 0 at home this season, but the game turned out to be much more exciting than what everyone expected after Sundbyberg’s 6-0 lead in second inning.
Erek Mullin was Gefle’s best offensive weapon with four hits in five AB, while Shawn Vance with three hits in five AB, and Robert Porsklint with a Homerun and 3 RBI was the game winner for the Heat.
Notes: Sundbyberg played this game without several of their key players. Center fielder Joaquin Pedroso is long-term injured after a complicated fracture to his foot in a game against Karlskoga game last season, and pitcher Carl Sjölin had an operation on his shoulders a couple of weeks ago. Outfielders Demond Wiltshire and Will Richard, and infielders Joshua Gregory and Oliver Gajzler also missed the games today.
Game 2:
Per Lindgren comes up to me with two out and bases loaded in the ninth inning. Gefle was in the lead with 3-2 at the start of the ninth inning, but Shawn Vance’s base hit to leftfield scored Peter Elfwing from second base and tied the game. Per quickly got two strikes against him, but managed to smoke a grounder between Kristoffer Sjöberg and third base, and with the ball shooting down the leftfield line, Philip Gajzler could score Sundbyberg’s fourth and winning run easily.
The match was well played and both teams starting pitchers, Mikael Bostrom of Gefle and Nick Soubiea of Heat held the opponents batters at bay. Mikael Bostrom gave up a long Homerun to Sundbyberg’s Philip Gajzler in the fifth inning, and Nick Soubiea had to give up one run in the sixth inning after a defensive mistake by the home team. Besides those two runs the two starters dominated the game. When Nick Soubiea was replaced by John Tisell in the eighth inning, Gefle scored two runs on three hits, and took a 3-1 lead that few thought that Sundbyberg could reverse.
Sundbyberg changed pitcher again, and Shawn Vance came in and closed the inning with a strike-out to Gefle’s Tomas Andersson. Shawn also pitched a perfect the ninth inning to earn the win.
Sundbyberg showed they aimed to win in the eighth inning, when Robert Porsklint‘s double against Mikael Bostrom Gefle forced Gefle to change pitcher, and Joel Hedlund took over. A base-on-balls to Per Lindgren, and a Passed ball followed by wild pitch allowed the Robban Porsklint to cut the deficit to 3-2, before Joel Hedlund got Ricardo Martinez and Johan Jansson on a ground out followed by a fly out, and Gefle ended the inning with the lead.
After Joel Hedlund started the bottom of the ninth inning with two straight strike-outs to John Tisell and Eric Mercado, Sundbyberg got going. Base hits from Peppe Elfwing, Shawn Vance, Robert Pors Klint and finally Per Lindgren turned the game into Sundbybergs favor.
Offensively Tomas Börjes was most successful Gefle with three hits on three AB, and Tomas Jansson had two hits on four AB.
For Sundbyberg Robert Porsklint was the leader with three hits in five AB, followed by Per Lindgren and Johan Jansson, each with two hits on three AB. Per also the game winning RBI for Sundbyberg.
Gefle played very well, and must feel that they had the game in their grasp, but let it slip in the last moments. A win in this game had meant that the team still had a chance to avoid the relegation series Kvalserien, but the loss forces Gefle together with Eskilstuna play the Kvalserie to be a spot in the 2011 Elitserien.
But if the team plays at the same level as in these two games, their chances in Kvalserien must be seen as very good.
Box scores, Stats at Heatstat.se
{mrb-result:2010-06-12|2010-06-13|SE}
{mrb-standing:sweden-2010}