In a battle of last place teams this past weekend Gefle took two games from Alby, 17-12 and 22-12, in the Swedish Baseball League regular season finale. Gefle ends the season with a 9-21 mark while Alby managed only a single win in 30 contests.
The first round of the playoffs begin on Saturday when the league-leading Karlskoga host Stockholm. The Bats (25-5) boast the top hitter and pitcher in the league in Shawn VANCE (.465) and Adam SOWELL (12-0, 1.67) but dropped 2-of-3 games to Stockholm this season.
Stockholm (17-13) is hitting .301 as a unit and is paced by dual threat Magnus PILEGARD who has a .406 batting average and is 5-1 on the pitching mound. The ace pitcher shutout the Bats 9-0 during the regular season while the offense mauled the league’s top pitching staff for 31 runs in three games.
The Sundbyberg Heat are the second seed in the playoffs and will host Tranas on Saturday. The Heat (21-9) are led by top hitter Rickard LJUNG (.482) and their ace pitcher Nick SOUBIEA (5-3, 2.53) and swept three games from Tranas in May.
Tranas (18-12) ended the regular season on a high note going 8-2 in ther last 10 games. A sweep of Sundbyberg two weeks ago and a 12-6 win over Karlskoga makes Tranas a dangerous playoff foe. Tony DERMENDZIEV (.350) is the top hitter and Ryan LEAKE (6-3, 2.89) anchors the pitching staff.