Draci Brno defeated city rival Hrosi on Friday, 6-4, to claim the fourth and decisive victory in the best-of-seven Czech national championship series and the club’s 23rd national championship.
Trailing 4-2 to start the eighth inning, Draci scored four runs in the frame to turn the game in their favor and to secure the final result, with Pabel Manzanero, who went 11-for-27 with 11 RBI in the series, driving in three decisive runs with a bases-clearing double. He later scored on Milian Prokop’s own double.
Filip Capka earned the W after replacing starter Gillian Wernet, who allowed four runs and did not complete the third inning. Capka allowed just two hits and struck out seven in his 5.1 innings of relief. Martin Schneider closed out the game with a scoreless ninth.
The victory caps a season in which Draci was the clear frontrunner in the Extraliga from beginning to end, compiling a 29-7 combined record in both the regular season (18-3) and Top6 (11-4). That said, Draci needed all five games to get past Eagles Prague in the the semifinal and split the first four games with Hrosi in the championship series, before prevailing 8-1 in Game 5 and 6-4 in Game 6.