Press Release Hungarian Baseball, www.baseball.hu
The semi-finals in the Hungarian Baseball League started last weekend and by now two teams are in position to clinch the Championship Series.
Defending champion Óbuda Brick Factory swept the first two games against the Jánossomorja Rascals in the best of five series. Zsolt Zalabai started for Óbuda and pitched six scoreless innings for the win. Péter Lupták hit a 3-run homer early in the game and the Brick Factory scored three more and had a 6-0 lead by the sixth inning. Zalabai was relieved in the sixth by Xiong Xiabo who gave up 1 run in his 3 frames and recorded the save. Next day the game was more tight and homer happy. Youngster Csaba Goór on Óbuda side faced veteran Rascals’ pitcher Krisztián Nagy. Óbuda defense committed costly errors in the first two innings which did not help their young pitcher. Rascals had a 4-1 lead by the end of the third inning. Brick Factory scored 4 runs in the bottom of the fourth inning on consecutive basehits and took a 5-4 lead. Óbuda added two more runs in the fifth but the Rascals struck back in the sixth. Balázs Fekete and Szabolcs Kiss hit two run homers and the Rascals were up by a run. But only for a short while as in the seventh inning Jorge Fernandez hit a 2 run homerun to right field which gave a 9-8 lead to Brick Factory. With one run lead the Óbuda coaches decided to send their ace to the mound to close the game and Zalabai recorded a six-out save with 4 Ks, no hits, no runs.
In the other matchup regular season winner Szentendre Sleepwalkers swept the games against Neckerman Kanizsa Ants. In game one the Sleepwalkers routed the Ants 21-1 in 6 innings. Inoue Masaharu pitched and got the easy win giving up one earned run, 2 walks and 2 hits. After the demolishing loss the Ants still stood strong on Sunday but lost again this time 5-3. Two veteran pitchers Attila Várkonyi and Gábor Darabos faced each other. Szentendre took an early 3-0 lead but Darabos settled in and allowed no more runs till the sixth inning. The Ants tied the score in the sixth inning but the Sleepwalkers scored the go-ahead run in the seventh after György Nikolits hit a triple to center and scored on a sac fly by Attila Várkonyi. In the next inning Miklós Földessy batted in Gergő Kovács as an insurance run. Dénes Simony was 2 for 2 with a triple and scored two runs, Imre Illés was 2/4 with 2 RBIs. Rookie Tamás Szabó pitched 5 innings in relief for the win.
If weather permits both series will continue this weekend on Saturday and if necessary on Sunday with game 3 and 4.
Results & schedule:
2010.09.04. Óbuda Brick Factory – Jánossomorja Rascals 6-1
2010.09.05. Óbuda Brick Factory – Jánossomorja Rascals 10-8
2010.09.11. Jánossomorja Rascals – Óbuda Brick Factory
2010.09.12. Jánossomorja Rascals – Óbuda Brick Factory*
Óbuda leads series 2-0
2010.09.04. Szentendre Sleepwalkers – Neckermann Kanizsa Ants 21-1 (6)
2010.09.05. Szentendre Sleepwalkers – Neckermann Kanizsa Ants 5-3
2010.09.11. Neckermann Kanizsa Ants – Szentendre Sleepwalkers
2010.09.12. Neckermann Kanizsa Ants – Szentendre Sleepwalkers*
Szentendre leads series 2-0
* if necessary