In the semifinal series for the German baseball championship between the Bonn Capitals and the Heidenheim Heideköpfen, the current champions, nothing has been decided after two of a maximum of five duels. After the first two games in Bonn’s Rheinaue, the score is 1:1. After a 6:2 win in the first game, head coach Stan Exeter’s team lost the second match by a narrow margin of 1:2. Nevertheless, the Capitals are optimistic. “We are well prepared for the upcoming games. I have no doubt that the boys have what it takes to win the series,” said Bonn’s sports director Florian Nehring after the first two games.
Compared to the beginning of the series, however, the Capitals have some catching up to do on offense. In game two, the Capitals only managed one run on four hits – not enough for a win, especially against a team like Heidenheim. On the other hand, the Heideköpfe only managed two runs in each of the two games – a good result for the Bonn pitchers.
A key player is missing in Heidenheim
In Heidenheim, head coach Exeter will have to do without one of his key players. Pitcher Titus von Kapff has returned to his college in the USA and cannot support the Capitals in their fight for a place in the final. Nevertheless, the Bonn pitching team seems to be sufficiently well staffed even without von Kapff. First and foremost is of course Markus Solbach, who was outstanding in game one and once again pitched the entire match. So it’s no wonder that the Bonn delegation is counting on a good chance of taking a 2-1 lead in game three on Saturday from 6 p.m. Two good German pitchers are also available for games four and five: the recovered Niklas Rimmel and Marcel Giraud.
Game three against Heideköpfe starts on Saturday at 6 p.m. Game four follows on Sunday, from 12 p.m. If a fifth game has to decide who goes into the final, it will start immediately afterwards. Bonn will then have the extra time as the “home team”. All games can be followed live in the live stream on the Heidenheim Heideköpfe YouTube channel.
2024-08-30 18:06:04