Heidenheim wins German title in nail biter; no-decision for Bolsenbroek

In a packed Armin-Wolff-Arena, about 2,500 fans saw a nail biter in which Mike Bolsenbroek wasn’t as dominant as he can be.  The atmosphere during this game was fabulous. Fans of both teams kept cheering until the final out.

Dutch born, Mike Bolsenbroek cruised through the first inning by retiring the side but hit a snag in the second frame.  He started the second inning by retiring Simon Guehring, but then gave up two walks and a double to Thomas di Benedetto that sailed over the head of the left fielder into left center field. Aaron Dunsmore could score on the play and Shawn Larry advanced to third. But Bolsenbroek got out of trouble as he cleanly fielded a bad bunt and threw out Adam Dunsmore at home plate. Philip Schulz eventually grounded out towards first base for the final out of the inning.

In the bottom of the third Nino Sacasa Petzsch singled on a broken bat infield hit as he beat out the throw of shortstop Schulz. After Petzsch stole second, Philipp Howard hit the ball towards third baseman Pecci, who committed an error that allowed Howard to reach first base safely and allowed Petzsch to advance to third. With runners on the corners Ludwig Glaser struck out looking for the third out.

Then next one and a half inning, both pitchers got through relatively easy. But in the bottom of the fifth, Sykaras wasn’t helped by his defense as Christoph Zirlzmeier singled to shortstop Philip Schulz who had problems to get the ball out of his glove. Then Petzsch bunted towards first base and got on base on a throwing error by first baseman Johannes Krumm. Both Petzsch and Zirlzmeier advanced an extra base to put runners in scoring position with no outs. But the team from Regensburg couldn’t cash in as Marcel Jimenez struck out looking, Matt Vance grounded out 6-3 and Philipp Howard flied out to center field.

Shawn Larry led off for the Heidekoepfe in the seventh inning with a double to the corner of left field. The next hitter, Di Benedetto was hit by Mike Bolsenbroek to put runners on first and second. A poor executed bunt by Johannes Krumm was fielded by Bolsenbroek who tried to make the play at third but threw passed the base and thus allowed Larry to score the second run for Heidenheim.
After Philip Schultz advanced both Krumm and Di Benedetto with a sac bunt, Jay Pecci drove in two runners on a double to right field, but Pecci overran second base and was tagged out for the second out. After Sascha Lutz hammered the ball towards right field for a single, manager Ivan Rodriguez pulled Bolsenbroek in favour of Gianni Friacchiolla who retired James McOwen on a fly ball to center field.

In the bottom of the seventh, Pete r Sykaras showed signs of fatigue. With one out, a major error by right fielder Aaron Dunsmore, who failed to catch a high fly ball that ended as a ground rule double, put Christoph Zirzlmeier in scoring position for Regensburg with one out. Nino Sacasa Petzsch then singled on a fly ball to center field to put Regensburg on the board and Sykaras walked Johannes Jung to give Regensburg runners on first and second with only one out. Matt Vance took advantage of Heidenheim playing deep in the outfield as he hit a fly ball that normally would have been an easy out. Nino Sacasa Petzsch scored on Vance’s hit and Regensburg still had runners on first and second.
With one swing of the bat Philipp Howard put the Legionaere in front as he lifted the ball over the left field fence to drive in three runs and give his team a 5-4 lead. After Ludwig Glaser singled to left field, Sykaras was pulled by Heidenheim’s manager Klaus Eckle in favour of Luke Sommer who got out of the inning without further damage.
Normally you would think that squandering a 4-0 lead will be a big blow to the team that does so, but Heidenheim refused to give up as Simon Guehring homered to left field to tie the game at five in the top of the eighth inning.

In the bottom of the eighth, Zirzlmeier hit a leadoff single through the left side of the infield off Luke Sommer. Nino Sacasa Petzsch laid down a perfect bunt that made Zirzlmeier advance to second and allowed himself to reach first base safely. Johannes Jung also laid down a bunt and got on base on a throwing error by catcher Simon Guehring. Regensburg could score twice on the play to take a 7-5 lead. A sac bunt by Matt Vance advanced Johannes Jung to second base.  After walking Ludwig Glaser, Luke Sommer eventually retired Kai Gronauer for the third out of this tough inning for Heidenheim.

But the Heidekoepfe refused to throw the towel. Johannes Krumm drew a leadoff walk on eleven pitches.  With one out, Krumm was awarded second base as Gianni Friacchiolla balked. Krumm advanced to third on Jay Pecci’s single to right field. Then Friacchiolla gave up a single to Sascha Lutz that brought Heidenheim within one run of Regensburg.  But after James McOwen flied out to center field, Simon Guehring singled to center field on a fly ball to drive in Jay Pecci for the tying run. With runners on first and second, Aaron Dunsmore singled to center field and drove in Simon Guehring for the go-ahead run as he was called safe on a questionable call. It was not quite clear if he had touched home plate while sliding. Legionaere manager Ivan Rodriguez was furious about the call and was ejected. A line drive hit by Shawn Larry was caughtRegensburg congratulates Heidenheim with their 2nd German title with a sensational diving play by Ludwig Glaser for the final out of the inning.

With three outs away from the German title, the Heidekoepfe kept Luke Sommer on the mound.
Sommer did what he had to do and retired the side to bring the Heidekoepfe their second German title. A great effort as they lost the first two games in Regensburg but this time they were mentally the strongest team in the lion’s den in Regensburg.

Jay Pecci was the best hitter for Heidenheim, going 2 for 4. Luke Sommer earned the win, going 2.2 innings in which he gave up two runs on three hits, walked one and fanned one.

Gianni Friacchiolla took the loss. In 2.1 innings he surrenderd four runs on five hits. He struck out two and walked one.

This game was an absolute promotion for baseball. Both teams fought hard and refused to give up until the final out. The fans of the Legionaere kept cheering on their team even though they were only awarded the second place medals.