By: Gabriel Fidler
Through the first month of play, it appeared that Karlovac would need to fend off only Zagreb on the way to defending its 2020 Croatian baseball title. The second weekend in May, however, produced surprises in three of the four games of baseball in Croatia.
On the Adriatic coast, Split welcomed the streaking Karlovac, which was 12-1 across all competitions. A thrilling offensive showdown resulted in a 9-7 win on the Saturday for the hosts. The stunned Olimpija team turned the tables a day later, however, thumping Nada 15-5 to augment its grip on the top of the table.
The weekend’s biggest shock came in Zagreb, where two off weeks after a split with Karlovac likely had the well-rested hosts thinking about narrowing the gap with Olimpija. Instead, Vindija Varaždin—which had earned splits with bottom-of-the-table Split and Medvednica in the past two weeks—came out hot and took Game One 8-5 before surviving the hosts 13-8 in the finale. Zagreb has now lost three in-a-row.
It was Varaždin’s first sweep since last Aug. 8-9, when it took a two-game set from, you guessed it, Zagreb. The Vindija sluggers moved into second place and only three games behind Karlovac in the standings. While Olimpija will match up again with Zagreb, Varaždin hosts Split in a bid to narrow that margin.
No box scores available from Week 5.
Week 5 Results (May 8-9)
May 8 Varaždin 8 – Zagreb 5
May 8 Karlovac 7 – Split 9
May 9 Varaždin 13– Zagreb 8
May 9 Karlovac 15 – Split 5
Week 6 Schedule (May 15-16)
May 15 Zagreb – Karlovac
May 15 Split – Varaždin
May 16 Zagreb – Karlovac
May 16 Split – Varaždin
Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | H | A | RF | RA | +/- | Notes |
| Olimpija Karlovac | 8 | 2 | 1.000 | – | 4-2 | 4-0 | 145 | 48 | 97 | W1 |
| Vindija Varaždin | 4 | 4 | .333 | 3 | 3-3 | 1-1 | 71 | 69 | 2 | W2 |
| Zagreb | 3 | 3 | .750 | 3 | 0-0 | 3-3 | 62 | 59 | 3 | L3 |
| Nada SSM Split | 3 | 5 | .333 | 4 | 0-0 | 3-5 | 42 | 66 | -24 | W1 |
| Medvednica | 2 | 6 | .250 | 5 | 2-6 | 0-0 | 48 | 118 | -70 | L2 |