The Stuttgart Reds arrived at Karlsruhe Cougar stadium ready for a fight and the day played out like a 12 round heavy weight boxing match. The Reds had already split a 2 game series earlier this season handing Marc Schumacher, the Cougars pitching ace, one of his few loses. The Cougars would clinch the Regionaliga crown if they won one of their games against the Reds. But the Reds had plans to spoil their celebration.In game on, coach Bret Helenius took the mound against Schumacher as he did in their last battle. A rain delay of 1 hour made the field very wet, but playable. Helenius held the Cougars to no runs for the first 5 innings. Only one run was allowed in the sixth inning by Helenius. In the seventh inning, the same exact scenerio existed that was in place last week against Baldham. There was a runner on first and second. There were 2 outs by way of strikeout. Against Baldham, the Boars were able to win the game on a double to left center. This week would be different however. The Cougars had also made 2 outs by way of strikeout, but the final out came on an easy pop fly and the Reds won 2-1. The offense was sparked by a single by Naohisa Matsuda in the third inning and was moved over to third on a double by Moritz Lons. Then, on a sacrife fly by Gonzalo Rivera, Matsuda scored. In the fifth inning, Ruben Kratky led off with a beautiful bunt basehit and was driven home by Germaine Brunswick to give Stuttgart their second run. That was all the Reds needed to nail down their first win of the day against the Cougars.
In game 2, pitching was the story again, as coach Micha Antczak took the mound ready to shutdown the Cougars offense. That is exactly what he did, throwing a beautiful complete game shutout to seal the sweep for the day. Antczak only allowed four hits on the day and kept the Cougars hitters off balance like a pro. The Reds lone run came in the top of the seventh inning when Ruben Kratky laid down another perfect bunt with 2 outs to get on base. Kratky
immediately stole second to get in scoring position for Adrian Fischer. Fischer then place a perfect opposite field hit to give Kratky a chance to score from second. As Kratky was flying around thrid trying to score, the Cougars tried to make the play at the plate, but the throw was offline and Kratky scored the Reds only run. In the bottom of the seventh inning, Antczak finished off the Cougars for the win.The Reds are now 3 games out of first with 6 games left to play and the top of the Regionaliga division is tight with Lauf only 2 games back. It seems there may still be a little opening for the division and the pressure remains on Karlsruhe to get the job done.
Game 1
Pitching
Bret Helenius 1 R, 1 ER, 8 H, 4 K, 2 BB (Win)
Hitting
Naohisa Matsuda 1-3, 1 R, 1 BB
Moritz Lons 1-3, 2B, 1 HP
Gonzalo Rivera 1-3, 1 RBI, 1 SF
Mark Perea 1 HP
Andreas Speigelberger 1-3
Ruben Kratky 1-3, 1 R
Germaine Brunswick 1-2, , 1 RBI
Game 2
Pitching
Michael Antczak 0 R, 0 ER, 4 H, 1 K, 3 BB, SHO (Win)
Hitting
Andreas Speigelberger 1-3
Ruben Kratky SB, 1 R
Adrian Fishcer 1-3, RBI
