The visiting team from Bonn opened the score in the top of the third inning by scoring twice off of Paderborn-starter Benjamin Thaqi.
The righthander gave up a lead-off single to Justus Recki, who was moved into scoring position via a sacrifice bunt by Adrian Stommel.
Moments later, Recki scored on a following single by Eric Brenk, who himself advanced to second base on the throw.
Thaqi followed with a strikeout, but then gave up a runscoring single to New Zealander Daniel Lamb-Hunt, which made it a 2-0 score.
Paderborn got one run back in its third at bat off of Bonn-starter Zack Dodson.
The 32-year old lefthanded American hit lead-off hitter Ian Eberhardt with a pitch, but struckout the next batter.
The American-born Eberhardt then moved into scoring position on a wild pitch and scored the first run when Maurice Bendrien followed with a double.
Dodson then also hit the next batter with a pitch, but Paderborn would leave two runners behind.
Dodson, who played in his first season for Bonn, pitched seven seasons (2009-2015) professionally in Minor League-teams (Rookie League, Single-A, Double-A) in the organization of Pittsburgh Pirates.
Since 2016, he played in Independent Leagues in the USA (2016-2019), but also in Summer and Winter Leagues in Mexico (2016-2021), in Venezuela (2015-16 and 2018-19 winter-seasons) and Puerto Rico (2021-22 Winter League).
Paderborn Untouchables came alongside in the bottom of the fifth.
Bjarne Reinhardt led off with a bunt-single, then Maurice Bendrien walked and Ladislaus Landwehr followed with a runscoring single.
That ended the afternoon for Dodson, who was relieved by Nick Miceli.
He got a pop-fly, then hit a batter, but the inning ended when another pop-fly led to a double play.
Miceli is an American/Portuguese player (born in the USA), who plays for Bonn since 2019 after having played for Bremen Dockers in 2018.
In 2020, he was to play for in France for Metz Cometz, but when the season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he returned to Bonn.
But in 2021, he also played in Portugal for Almada White Sharks.
Miceli, who also is one of the catchers in the team, also played in Australia in the winter months (2017-2019).
Bonn broke the 2-2 tie by scoring two runs in the top of the sixth.
With one out, Daniel Lamb-Hunt singled and moved into scoring position when an outfield-error followed.
With first base open, American John Schultz was walked intentionally to set up a force play.
That grounder indeed came, hit by Spaniard Daniel Sanchez Reyes, and Schultz was forced out at second base.
But with runners at the corners, veteran player Vincent Ahrens singled to bring in Lamb-Hunt and put Bonn ahead, 3-2.
Moments later, Sanchez also scored when a grounder by Danny Lankhorst ended in an error.
A flyout ended the at bat, but Bonn led with a 4-2 score.
Now that Bonn had re-taken the lead, Miceli had become the pitcher-of-record.
But he didn't return to the mound in the bottom of the sixth, as Sascha Koch took over.
Koch is another veteran in the team of Bonn for whom he plays since 2005.
Besides that, he is one of the best pitchers in the league.
The righthander gave up a lead-off single to Curaçao-born Phildrick Llewellyn, but followed with a strikeout.
Hereafter, Llewellyn was caught stealing and Koch closed with another strikeout.
...Bonn Capitals celebrates the German Championship-title...
(© Photo: Bonn Capitals) |
Bonn Capitals got a chance to add another run in the top of the seventh inning, as it got the bases loaded.
Lead-off hitter Adrian Stommel was hit by a pitch and Eric Brenk followed with a single.
With two outs, John Schultz reached on an error, but a flyout ended the at bat.
After having scored the tying run in the fifth inning, Paderborn Untouchables was unable to get into scoring position, thanks to good pitching and defense from the Bonn-team.
In the bottom of the seventh, Maurice Bendrien hit an one-out single off of Sascha Koch, who followed with two strikeouts.
In the eighth inning, Lithuanian Dovydas Neverauskas took over the Bonn-pitching and retired the side.
In 2010-2019, Neverauskas pitched professionally in the Minor Leagues for Pittsburgh Pirates.
In 2017, the 29-year old righthander became the first Lithuanian-born player in the Major League.
In 2017-2020, he pitched in 76 Major League-games for Pittsburgh Pirates, all in relief, striking out 77 batters.
In 2021, Neverauskas pitched in one game for Hiroshima Toyo Carp in the Japanese professional league (Nippon Professional Baseball).
This year, he made his debut in the German Bundesliga.
Bonn then added an insurance run in the top of the ninth off of Florian Seidel, who had entered in the eighth inning.
With one out, Seidel gave up a triple to Eric Brenk, who scored on a following single by Australian Wilson Lee.
Dovydas Neverauskas also pitched the ninth inning for Bonn.
The Lithuanian began with a strikeout, but then 16-year old pinch-hitter Darrion Richards was awarded first base on catcher's interference.
Neverauskas followed with another strikeout.
Hereafter, Richards was forced out at second base on a grounder by Maurice Bendrien and that ended the game.
And it also ended the 2022 season in the German 1.Bundesliga, as Bonn Capitals was the new Champion.
Eric Brenk was named Most Valuable Player of the German Series.
Jürgen Elsishans, President of the Deutscher Baseball und Softball Verband, handed out the Award to Brenk, then the Championship Trophy to the winning team.
Three of the four games were close games.
It was reported that the Bonn-team didn't play its best baseball in either game, but they fought and scored crucial runs.
It was this team-performance what the Capitals relied on.
Afterwards, Bonn Capitals Head Coach Max Schmitz said on the team's website:
,,Paderborn demanded everything from us, they definitely belonged in the final.
They were the team in the playoffs that put up the toughest resistance.
It was extremely difficult to end the series successfully here away from home.
Above all, we had to defend ourselves mentally and also took risks.
I'm proud of my team''.
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Bonn Capitals captures German title by winning Final vs. Paderborn
PADERBORN (Germany) -
Bonn Capitals is the German baseball-champion for the second time in history.
On Sunday (September 4), the team won 5-2 against Paderborn Untouchables in Game 4 to win the best-of-five German Series (Deutsche Meisterschaft Final-Serie) 3-1.
The club first captured the title in 2018.
A week ago, Bonn Capitals won the first two games at home with scores of 3-0 and 10-3.
The next games were played at the site of Paderborn Untouchables, which struck early on Saturday to force a fourth game.
Paderborn led 4-1 after three innings and went on to win 5-2.
But on Sunday, Bonn recovered and won its third game of the series.
Bonn was led for the second year by Head Coach Max Schmitz.
In the best-of-five Play-Offs of this year, Heidenheim Heideköpfe faced Bonn Capitals, which was better this time and dethroned the reigning champion.
Bonn won the Play-Offs 3-1.
In the fourth game, Bonn became the first team to reach the Final via a 7-0 shutout-win.
Game 4 German Series 2022.