by Rafal Bednarczyk
The first round of the Polish Baseball Championships began last weekend, with the top four teams facing off in Kutno in two best-of-five semifinal series.
Centuary Warsaw, who finished the regular season in second place, began the playoffs by hosting KSB Wroclaw for two games. Game 1 on Saturday was a convincing victory for the Centaurs, who dominated the game and won convincingly by a score of nine to one. Starting pitcher Trevor Caughey, a former Baltimore Orioles draft pick and 2013 Polish League champion, kept KSB off-balance all afternoon with his formidable command. In his career, Caughey has competed in international leagues as diverse as Spain, Germany, Hungary, Australia, Czech Republic, and South Africa. With the crafty vet Caughey pumping gas, Warsaw jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first inning, adding two more runs in the second and six more in the third! Wroclaw scored their lone run in the 8th inning – but the game was practically over at that point, as Warsaw hung on to win 9-1. Mikolaj Dabrowski, the lanky but promising 15-year-old right-handed pitching prospect, finished the game in relief with a scoreless ninth inning. Earlier in the year, the talented rookie impressed in the European Qualifier A Pool for Team Poland as a cadet.
Game 2 was not as positive for Warsaw, as Wroclaw’s Ray Wojtala pitched well and held the Centaury attack in check over the course of the game. Wroclaw took advantage of several Warsaw errors to jump out to five run lead, and never looked back. Sunday’s game ended with a final score of 5-1 for KSB. Only the most die-hard fans attended the games in Kutno, but the live stream on Centaury TV was watched by over 200 viewers (which brought the season hits total to over 4,000 views). After splitting the first two games of this best-of-five series, the semifinal is even at one game apiece for both Wroclaw and Warsaw. Next weekend’s action looks to be promising, as the loser of Saturday’s matchup will face an elimination game on Sunday – and potentially a deciding Game 5 back in Kutno in two weeks.
Join us on Saturday and Sunday for Games 3 and 4 at the “Zakrzow” Sports Complex at Niepodleglosci 6 in Wroclaw, Poland. First pitch for both games is at noon.
Games 1 and 2 are available on YouTube:
Game#1
[youtube SKL2i4D8Kow 520]
Game#2
[youtube qDKdaN1JPyU 520]
Games 3 and 4 will be broadcast live on Centaury TV at http://ustre.am/1mGRC. Follow the stream LIVE on your laptop or mobile device, or come out to the ballpark for the games!