(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Adelaide Bite)
  German pitcher Markus Solbach advances to Double-A Final
Nederlands
 TULSA, Oklahoma (USA) -
German pitcher Markus Solbach has advanced to the best-of-five Championship Series of the Texas League (Double-A) with his team Tulsa Drillers (Los Angeles Dodgers).
On Sunday (September 8), Tulsa won 5-1 against Arkansas Travelers (Seattle Mariners) to win the best-of-five North Division Series.
On Tuesday, Tulsa opens the best-of-five Championship Series against Amarillo Sod Poodles (San Diego Padres), which won the South Divsion Series against Midland RockHounds (Oakland A's), 3-2.
...Markus Solbach...
(© Photo: Adelaide Bite) |
Tulsa lost 2-1 in its opener against Arkansas, but then won the next two games (3-1, 6-1).
The 28-year old Markus Solbach was the winning pitcher for Tulsa in Game 3 on Friday.
The righthander then started and threw 5 1/3 inning, striking out four batters and giving ip six basehits.
Tulsa won the game 6-1 to take a 2-1 lead in the Series.
However, on Saturday, Arkansas forced a fifth game by winning 4-1.
That fifth game was played on Sunday and won by Tulsa to advance to the Championship Series.
With that, it ended the possibility for Solbach to pitch for the German National Team this week during the European Championship in Bonn and Solingen.
He was put on the German roster for the event, just in case his team would have been eliminated to make him eligible to pitch.
Solbach plays professionally since 2011.
In his first three seasons (2011-2013), he pitched in the organization of the Minnesota Twins in Rookie League.
During the 2013 season, Solbach was released, then was signed by Arizona Diamondbacks almost a year later.
The righthander mostly pitched in Single-A in 2014-2016 for Arizona.
In November 2016, Solbach became a Free Agent, but was not signed by another club.
Instead, he pitched in an Independent League in 2017, but also returned to Germany, pitching for Bonn Capitals last year and was named Best Pitcher of the Nord Division.
Solbach then played in Australia in the 2018-2019 season for Adelaide Bite and was named Co-MVP with Tim Kennelly (Perth Heat).
He also played in Australia for Melbourne Aces (2011-2012) and Sydney Blue Sox (2013-2014).
In January of this year, Solbach was signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers, who assigned him to its Double-A team in Tulsa.
But in June, he was assigned to Extended Spring Training, then got a rehab assignment in Rookie League.
He returned to Tulsa at the end of July.
This season, Solbach pitched in eight games (seven starts) for Tulsa and was 5-1 with a 2.57 ERA.
He struckout 39 batters in 42 innings, walking only eight.
Before turning professional, Solbach pitched for Pulheim Gophers in the German Bundesliga.
(September 9)
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